Jill's Book Blog

First Lines Friday – November 9

This is a weekly meme hosted by Wandering Words, where you give the first few lines of a book to hook your readers before introducing the book.

Here are my first lines:

“Late in the winter of my seventeenth year, my mother decided I was depressed, presumably because I rarely left the house, spent quite a lot of time in bed, read the same book over and over, ate infrequently, and devoted quite a bit of my abundant free time to thinking about death.”

Do you recognize these first lines?

…

And the book is… The Fault in Our Stars by John Green.

Goodreads synopsis:

Despite the tumor-shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis. But when a gorgeous plot twist named Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel’s story is about to be completely rewritten.

Insightful, bold, irreverent, and raw, The Fault in Our Stars is award-winning author John Green’s most ambitious and heartbreaking work yet, brilliantly exploring the funny, thrilling, and tragic business of being alive and in love.

Have you read The Fault in Our Stars? What did you think of it?

Review: This Cruel Design (This Mortal Coil #2)

Title: This Cruel Design (This Mortal Coil #2)
Author: Emily Suvada
Genre: Young Adult, Science Fiction
Publisher: Simon and Schuster Canada
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Format: ebook
Release Date: October 30, 2018
Rating: ★★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

Cat thought the Hydra epidemic was over, but when new cases pop up, Cat must team up with an enemy to fix the vaccine before the virus spirals out of control in this thrilling sequel to This Mortal Coil, which New York Times bestselling author Amie Kaufman says “redefines ‘unputdownable.’”

The nightmare of the outbreak is finally over, but Cat’s fight has only just begun.

Exhausted, wounded, and reeling from revelations that have shaken her to her core, Cat is at a breaking point. Camped in the woods with Cole and Leoben, she’s working day and night, desperate to find a way to stop Lachlan’s plan to reprogram humanity. But she’s failing—Cat can’t even control her newly regrown panel, and try as she might to ignore them, she keeps seeing glitching visions from her past everywhere she turns.

When news arrives that the Hydra virus might not be as dead as they’d thought, the group is pushed into an uneasy alliance with Cartaxus to hunt down Lachlan and fix the vaccine. Their search takes them to Entropia, a city of genehackers hidden deep in the desert that could also hold the answers about Cat’s past that she’s been searching for.

But when confronted with lies and betrayals, Cat is forced to question everything she knows and everyone she trusts. And while Lachlan is always two steps ahead, the biggest threat to Cat may be the secrets buried in her own mind.

Review:

I loved this book as much as the first.

There were still lots of surprises throughout the book, though not as much as the first book. There were a couple of things about the origins of certain characters which I guessed correctly. I gasped at the end of so many chapters. It was so good!

I don’t know a lot about science or coding, so I think some of those parts of the story went over my head. I found the technology fascinating, even though I didn’t understand all of it. I think the panels are a real possibility in our future.

I loved this book. The ending was so good! I can’t wait for the next one!

TBR Thursday – November 8

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 This Savage Song (Monsters of Verity #1) by Victoria Schwab.

Goodreads Synopsis:

There’s no such thing as safe in a city at war, a city overrun with monsters. In this dark urban fantasy from author Victoria Schwab, a young woman and a young man must choose whether to become heroes or villains—and friends or enemies—with the future of their home at stake. The first of two books.

Kate Harker and August Flynn are the heirs to a divided city—a city where the violence has begun to breed actual monsters. All Kate wants is to be as ruthless as her father, who lets the monsters roam free and makes the humans pay for his protection. All August wants is to be human, as good-hearted as his own father, to play a bigger role in protecting the innocent—but he’s one of the monsters. One who can steal a soul with a simple strain of music. When the chance arises to keep an eye on Kate, who’s just been kicked out of her sixth boarding school and returned home, August jumps at it. But Kate discovers August’s secret, and after a failed assassination attempt the pair must flee for their lives.

Have you read this book? What did you think of it?

Review: The Girl Who Saved Christmas (Christmas #2)

Title: The Girl Who Saved Christmas (Christmas #2)
Author: Matt Haig
Genre: Middle Grade, Fantasy
Publisher: Canongate Books
Source: Library
Format: ebook
Release Date: November 3, 2016
Rating: ★★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

JOURNEY TO THE EDGE OF MAGIC

If magic has a beginning, can it also have an end?

When Amelia wants a wish to come true she knows just the man to ask – Father Christmas.

But the magic she wants to believe in is starting to fade, and Father Christmas has more than impossible wishes to worry about. Upset elves, reindeers dropping out of the sky, angry trolls and the chance that Christmas might be cancelled.

But Amelia isn’t just any ordinary girl. And – as Father Christmas is going to find out – if Christmas is going to be saved, he might not be able to do it alone . . .

Review:

I loved this story!

This story was a lot more complex than the first story, since all of the characters were introduced before. There were three separate plots in this story. First there was Amelia, who was sent to a workhouse and no longer believes in magic. Then there was Father Christmas who helps fix the Elfhelm after it was destroyed in a troll attack. Finally, Noosh and Little Mim went to investigate the trolls.

Amelia’s story reminded me of Charles Dickens stories. She was sent to a workhouse when her mother died to work for an evil old man named Mr. Creeper. He was like Scrooge from A Christmas Story. My thoughts were confirmed when Amelia met Charles Dickens! That was a great cameo appearance that I was so excited to see.

Since this story was more complex, I recommend reading The Boy Named Christmas first, though you don’t have to. Either way, this is another great Christmas story!

‘Waiting on’ Wednesday – November 7

This is a weekly meme hosted by Breaking the Spine. In this post we highlight a book that’s highly anticipated.

The book that I’m waiting on this Wednesday is King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Nikolai Lantsov has always had a gift for the impossible. No one knows what he endured in his country’s bloody civil war—and he intends to keep it that way. Now, as enemies gather at his weakened borders, the young king must find a way to refill Ravka’s coffers, forge new alliances, and stop a rising threat to the once-great Grisha Army.

Yet with every day a dark magic within him grows stronger, threatening to destroy all he has built. With the help of a young monk and a legendary Grisha Squaller, Nikolai will journey to the places in Ravka where the deepest magic survives to vanquish the terrible legacy inside him. He will risk everything to save his country and himself. But some secrets aren’t meant to stay buried—and some wounds aren’t meant to heal.

What books are you waiting on this week?

Review: Don’t You Cry

Title: Don’t You Cry
Author: Mary Kubica
Genre: Thriller
Publisher: MIRA
Source: Borrowed from a friend
Format: Paperback
Release Date: May 17, 2016
Rating: ★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

In downtown Chicago, Esther Vaughan disappears from her apartment without a trace. A haunting letter addressed to My Dearest is found among her possessions, leaving her roommate Quinn Collins to question how well she really knew her friend. Meanwhile, in a small town an hour outside Chicago, a mysterious woman appears in the quiet coffee shop where eighteen-year-old Alex Gallo works as a dishwasher. He is immediately drawn to her, but what starts as an innocent crush quickly spirals into something far more sinister.

As Quinn searches for answers about Esther, and Alex is drawn further under the stranger’s spell, master of suspense Mary Kubica takes readers on a taut and twisted thrill ride that builds to a stunning conclusion and shows that no matter how fast and far we run, the past always catches up with us.

Review:

My friend recommended this book to me, so I was excited to read it. Unfortunately, I didn’t like it.

It took a long time to get into the story. It moved very slowly. There was a lot of description and not a lot of action.

What was the most frustrating was the ending. There was no way I could have guessed what would happen. It took me a minute to understand what was happening because it was all twisted up and complicated. Some of the issues weren’t even resolved, or didn’t have a logical conclusion.

This book didn’t work for me.

Top Ten Tuesday – Classics I Want To Read

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish and it is now hosted by The Artsy Reader Girl. This week’s theme is Backlist Books I Want To Read, but I changed it to Classics I Want to Read. Here’s my list:

1. Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray

2. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

3. Mansfield Park by Jane Austen

4. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

5. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy

6. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë

7. Shirley by Charlotte Brontë

8. Silas Marner by George Eliot

9. A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

10. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

(All photos taken from Goodreads)

Goodreads Synopsis:

Nancy and her friends must navigate a cruise ship crisis in the first book of the Nancy Drew Diaries, a fresh approach to a classic series.

Nancy, Bess, and George are cruising dangerous waters on a tour of Alaska. Becca Wright, an old friend of Nancy’s, is the Assistant Cruise Director of the Arctic Star, a posh new ship. But Becca needs Nancy’s help when strange things keep happening aboard the opulent ocean liner: The swimming pool becomes a floating grave; a famous passenger is threatened; and even the seemingly innocent mini-golf course becomes a perilous playground. With the majestic and mysterious Alaskan scenery as a backdrop, Nancy and company have to find out who’s trying to sabotage the maiden voyage and why.

Review:

Unfortunately, I was disappointed in this story. I love Nancy Drew stories, and I love seeing all of the different series. The Nancy Drew and the Clue Crew is an example of a great series for kids, and I’ve enjoyed some of the others as well. This book wasn’t the neat and tidy mystery that I was expecting.

Many of the “incidents” on the cruise were weird, and not really threatening. There was a “body” in the pool, which turned out to be a mannequin. I’m not sure how they thought the mannequin could be a real person. There were also some threatening emails, which almost got the cruise cancelled.

The incidents were juvenile, and that contrasted with the fact that Nancy and her friends are actually older teens in this book. They were adults, though their exact age wasn’t mentioned, so I don’t know why they were spending their time on these childish incidents. I think Nancy, Bess, and George should have been younger characters, since the book is aimed at a younger audience.

Another thing that was disappointing was that the whole mystery wasn’t solved at the end! Some of the incidents were attributed to the culprits that Nancy found at the end, but there were still more suspicious incidents to be solved. It continues to the next book, which I don’t think I will be reading.

It’s Monday, What Are You Reading? – November 5

This blog meme is hosted by Book Date. It is a place to meet up and share what you have been, are and about to be reading over the week. It’s a great post to organize yourself. It’s an opportunity to visit and comment, and er… add to that ever growing TBR pile!

What I just finished:

This weekend I finished Don’t You Cry by Mary Kubica.

What I’m currently reading:

I’m currently reading The Girl Who Saved Christmas (Christmas #2) by Matt Haig.

What I’m reading next:

Next I will be reading This Cruel Design by Emily Suvada.

What are you guys reading this week? Have you read any of these books?

Sundays in Bed With… This Cruel Design

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 This Cruel Design by Emily Suvada.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Cat thought the Hydra epidemic was over, but when new cases pop up, Cat must team up with an enemy to fix the vaccine before the virus spirals out of control in this thrilling sequel to This Mortal Coil, which New York Times bestselling author Amie Kaufman says “redefine’s ‘unputdownable.’”

The nightmare of the outbreak is finally over, but Cat’s fight has only just begun.

Exhausted, wounded, and reeling from revelations that have shaken her to her core, Cat is at a breaking point. Camped in the woods with Cole and Leoben, she’s working day and night, desperate to find a way to stop Lachlan’s plan to reprogram humanity. But she’s failing—Cat can’t even control her newly regrown panel, and try as she might to ignore them, she keeps seeing glitching visions from her past everywhere she turns.

When news arrives that the Hydra virus might not be as dead as they’d thought, the group is pushed into an uneasy alliance with Cartaxus to hunt down Lachlan and fix the vaccine. Their search takes them to Entropia, a city of genehackers hidden deep in the desert that could also hold the answers about Cat’s past that she’s been searching for.

But when confronted with lies and betrayals, Cat is forced to question everything she knows and everyone she trusts. And while Lachlan is always two steps ahead, the biggest threat to Cat may be the secrets buried in her own mind.

What book are you in bed with today?

Goodreads synopsis:

Goodreads Synopsis:

Review:

What to read next:

The Darkest Star (Origin #1) by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Zero Repeat Forever by G.S. Prendergast

Goodreads Synopsis:

Goodreads Synopsis:

Review:

What to read next:

Father Christmas and Me (Christmas #3) by Matt Haig

The Truth Pixie by Matt Haig

Goodreads Synopsis:

Goodreads Synopsis:

Review:

What to read next:

The Good Girl by Mary Kubica

When The Lights Go Out by Mary Kubica

1. Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray

2. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

3. Mansfield Park by Jane Austen

4. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

5. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy

6. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë

7. Shirley by Charlotte Brontë

8. Silas Marner by George Eliot

9. A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

10. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

(All photos taken from Goodreads)

Goodreads Synopsis:

Review:

What to read next:

Strangers on a Train (Nancy Drew Diaries #2) by Carolyn Keene

What I just finished:

What I’m currently reading:

What I’m reading next:

Goodreads Synopsis: