Review: Furyborn

Furyborn by Claire Legrand
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I'd recommend Furyborn to anyone who likes a good adventure, or more specifically, fans of Avatar (the animes), the Red Queen series by Victoria Aveyard, or even Sailor Moon!

This book is actually likely one of my top books ever. And I've read a LOT of books!!

It follows two women, a thousand years apart, both with amazing powers and plenty of (what we called in the 90s) GIRL POWER, with a connection that might be obvious from the start, but nevermind all that.

The world is a strange one, where some people have powers that align with one of seven elements, and angels once walked with humans, though now they are trapped away.

Queen Rielle is supposed to be saviour to her people, but the book opens with her seeming to be a total and utter disaster. As in, she's on fire and about to die, so it seems.

The next view we get of her, is two years before the above incident, and you really start to adore her, and feel sorry for what she has to endure, just to make everyone around here believe in her. She's an amazing character, that I feel needed more hugs in her life, maybe things wouldn't have turned out like they did.

And then, 1000 years in the future from when Rielle lived, we have Eliana, the bounty hunter who can heal from any injury, and isn't sure what makes her so special. She has an amazing cast around her, who raise her up and make sure that her secrets stay safe. Though of course, it'd be no fun if those shields of wonderful people remained intact.

All in all, it was a beautiful story, with a very diverse cast, both in heritage and orientation. The main characters are fully fleshed out, and every chapter end made you wish you could see more of what they were dealing with, but then you'd fall into what the other was doing, and just enjoy the ride.

I really can not wait for the next book to come out, nevermind that this was an ARC copy (thank you to Edelweiss for the ebook!) because there's some amazing twists that had me gasping, wanting to know more!!

View all my reviews

Review: Caraval

Caraval by Stephanie Garber
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Even though this was my first time reading the book, it is easily one of my favourite books ever, no joke.

Scarlett has a brutal life, a father who abuses her and her sister, Tella, and she just wants to save them both and get away to Caraval, where magic is real, and wishes can come true.

Of course, nothing amazing can ever be as simple as we'd like it to be.

Tella gets kidnapped, everyone seems to be lying and tricking each other, and Scarlett isn't sure who to trust, or if anything is real anymore.

Then of course, everything comes crashing down, and everything is awful and amazing and magical and crazy.

The language to describe things in the novel are amazing in themselves. Scarlett sees colours in everything, tastes flavours in situations, it's so beautiful and beyond anything I have ever seen in my life. The author has a real gift, and I wish I knew how she could channel such imagery in a few words.

Definitely recommend Caraval to anyone!

View all my reviews

Review: Geekerella

Geekerella by Ashley Poston
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I'll be honest, this isn't a book I would have picked up on my own. I do judge books by their covers, and I thought this was going to be a childish novel, based on looks alone.

Thankfully, I was wrong.

This is, as you can imagine, a retelling of Cinderella. Elle is the orphan girl, who suffers her stepmother and twin stepsisters. Her father died, and left her in their care. She not only upkeeps the house, but works a job in a food truck as well.

She is an utter and total geek, and you have to love her for her awkwardness, very true to life. I'd know, I've lived the geek life, and have been going to cons for ... a long time, let's just say that, ha! She is part of a fandom of a sci-fi show, reminiscent of Star Trek. She has a lot to say about the lead cast for a role that she feels strongly about, due to the fact that the show was something her and her father shared. She definitely does not think he can handle the role.

By luck or accident or cosmic joke, the two end up communicating with each other, anonymously. Ah, the modern age.

The characters are all very likable (aside from the step family) and fun. And believable, which is so refreshing! No one is perfect, and everyone has flaws! And they admit to them! They stumble, they fall, they say the wrong things. It's perfect.

If you're into fairy tale retellings (I SO am) then give it a shot. Or give it a shot even if you're not, maybe you'll find a genre you enjoy.

View all my reviews

Review: Renegades

Renegades by Marissa Meyer
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Oh, I am disappointed. I wanted to love this book. I LOVED Marissa Meyer's Lunar Chronicles, felt a bit annoyed with Heartless, but had high hopes for Renegades. I just can't read it. I've been trying for about three weeks. It's just not catching my attention at all!

There's two main characters, and I don't know which one I'm supposed to be rooting for. We have "good guys", and we have "bad guys", but they both seem problematic. Neither really seems to be good, which really, you need to have some kind of line drawn between the sides. Frankly, I didn't care if either side succeeded, that's not good.

I'm also highly overwhelmed by the cast, most of which have double names, a "real" name and a "super" name. So you're trying to track a dozen people, and most of them have alternate names... it gets dizzying!

I'm not going to shelf this forever, maybe one day I'll get back to it, but for now, it's a nope for me.

View all my reviews

What to do?

Coffee and fantasy, two of my favourite things...
Source: WeHeartIt.com

We're a week into the new year, and things are going nicely over here! We're having fun, getting out despite the cold (in our part of the world, it's been around -20*c for the past week!) and just generally enjoying life.

I've run into an odd problem though. I've set myself up with the reading challenges I posted about just before the end of the year, and I'm stuck on a book that's not part of either of them. It's by an awesome author, Marissa Meyer, who also did the Lunar Chronicles series, which I loved. Renegades (link to Goodreads) seemed like it would be amazing based on a sample I got to read a while back, but I'm finding out that I'm not even to that part of the book yet, and I'm already on page 150 or so. There's so many characters, that use double names (real name versus hero/villain name) so there's another problem, trying to remember who's who!

I've been struggling, trying to read it for about three WEEKS now. Which is crazy. I used to be able to read a book a day before I became sick, but I never slowed down this badly.

I'm tempted to put it down, and try again later, so I can get a move on with my challenges.

I don't want to give up on it though. What do I do?

Book Riot's 2018 Read Harder Challenge

And here's the Book Riot's 2018 Read Harder Challenge list (link goes to the official page), which is shorter, but looks (and sounds, heh) a bit harder than the POPSUGAR challenge.

Again, going to be interesting, and hopefully I can complete it before the end of next year!

Good luck to anyone else on the same path as me!

• A book published posthumously 
• A book of true crime 
• A classic of genre fiction (i.e. mystery, sci fi/fantasy, romance) 
• A comic written and illustrated by the same person 
• A book set in or about one of the five BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, or South Africa) 
• A book about nature 
• A western 
• A comic written or illustrated by a person of color 
• A book of colonial or postcolonial literature 
• A romance novel by or about a person of color 
• A children’s classic published before 1980 
• A celebrity memoir 
• An Oprah Book Club selection 
• A book of social science 
• A one-sitting book 
• The first book in a new-to-you YA or middle grade series 
• A sci fi novel with a female protagonist by a female author 
• A comic that isn’t published by Marvel, DC, or Image 
• A book of genre fiction in translation 
• A book with a cover you hate 
• A mystery by a person of color or LGBTQ+ author 
• An essay anthology 
• A book with a female protagonist over the age of 60 
• An assigned book you hated (or never finished)

2018 POPSUGAR Reading Challenge

So... This is the list put out for the 2018 POPSUGAR Reading Challenge (click link to go to the official page) and I'm going to try my best to complete it!! I already have a few books in mind, but some are going to be a bit of a challenge (what IS Nordic Noir anyway?) though I'm hopefully up for the challenge.

Good luck to everyone else that takes part as well!!

• A book made into a movie you've already seen -
• True Crime -
• The next book in a series you started -
• A book involving a heist -
• Nordic Noir -
• A novel based on a real person -
• A book set in a country that fascinates you -
• A book with a time of day in the title -
• A book about a villain or antihero -
• A book about death of grief -
• A book with a female author who uses a male pseudonym -
• A book with an LGBTQ+ protagonist -
• A book that is also a stage play or musical -
• A book by an author of a different ethnicity than you -
• A book about feminism -
• A book about mental health -
• A book you borrowed or that was given to you as a gift -
• A book by two authors -
• A book about or involving a sport -
• A book by a local author -
• A book with your favorite color in the title -
• A book with alliteration in the title -
• A book about time travel -
• A book with a weather element in the title -
• A book set at sea -
• A book with an animal in the title -
• A book set on a different planet -
• A book with song lyrics in the title -
• A book about or set on Halloween -
• A book with characters who are twins -
• A book mentioned in another book -
• A book from a celebrity book club -
• A childhood classic you've never read -
• A book that's published in 2018 -
• A past Goodreads Choice Awards winner -
• A book set in the decade you were born -
• A book you meant to read in 2017 but didn't get to -
• A book with an ugly cover -
• A book that involves a bookstore or library -
• Your favorite prompt from the 2015, 2016, or 2017 POPSUGAR Reading Challenges -

ADVANCED

• A bestseller from the year you graduated high school -
• A cyberpunk book -
• A book that was being read by a stranger in a public place -
• A book tied to your ancestry -
• A book with a fruit or vegetable in the title -
• An allegory -
• A book by an author with the same first or last name as you -
• A microhistory -
• A book about a problem facing society today -
• A book recommended by someone else taking the POPSUGAR Reading Challenge - 

Owl Crate!

So I'm really sorry about the silence around here. It's been a busy week (my birthday, something called Christmas, I don't know...) so as you can assume, I've not been reading or writing a whole lot.

Today was too big of a deal to not post about though. I got my first box from Owl Crate!! (Referral link, if you decide to order through them, use my link, I'd appreciate it!) It's actually my first paid subscription box (I've gotten a few for free) so I was extra excited for this. A new book, a cute button, a whole bunch of good things.

If, by chance, you've ordered this month's and haven't gotten it yet (probably you live in Canada, because we seem to be getting it last!) then don't click through the pictures from my Instagram below. If you want to be spoiled, or just want to see what we all got, then feel free to click through! And yes, I know my pictures aren't the thing of glory and fame yet, I'm working on a space to make things more... pretty soon.

Working on a few things to make this place look a bit nicer too, but for now, I'm outta here.

Happy Holidays, everyone!!

A post shared by bunny 🐇 (@coffeeinmysugar) on Dec 23, 2017 at 4:07pm PST

Review: Surprise Me

Surprise Me by Sophie Kinsella
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Surprise Me was not what I was expecting, unfortunately. And I say that as a fan of Sophie Kinsella, which is sad, because I generally like what she does. Fluffy chick lit, with a flaky (but not too flaky) main character who gets her happy ending.

And then we have Sylvie. She and her husband Dan seem like the usual married couple. Have twin girls who are cute and spunky, a nice house with a mortgage, and a backyard. Perfect little life. Oh, and they're of course super healthy and toned and gorgeous.

That's where the trouble starts. Their doctor tells the perfect couple, that oh, wow, you're going to live forever. This makes them realize how dull their lives will be in 68 years form now, and what can they do to spice it up right now?!

This leads to hijinks, bad planning, strained relationships, and things coming out of the woodworks that don't exactly help a marriage succeed. (view spoiler)[Of course, everything works out in the end, and they probably go on to have another hundred years of quirky wedding bliss. (hide spoiler)]

Typical chick lit fare, to be honest.

I had so much trouble caring about Sylvie though. She seemed out of her mind, paranoid, and kind of crazy. I almost felt like she didn't deserve her life, and how dare she act like she does? She's a spoiled brat, and maybe this is why she is written to be unlikable, but it's almost to the point that I feel sorry for Dan and the kids. Probably not what you want for your main character's family.

I wish the museum was hashed out a bit more, it seemed like an amazing place, but kept getting thrown off by the randomness of it all. A whole display of fans? Armour? It's a house?

I could nitpick for days, but I'll leave it at this: It's... alright. Not the greatest, and any twists and turns are kind of obvious, but a nice light read for a weekend. Just don't grind your teeth too much when Sylvie acts like, well, a princess.

View all my reviews

Review: All the Birds in the Sky

All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was a really random book for me to pick up, not my usual. My local bookstore was having a "pick any book under $XX.xx for free!" sort of deal though, and this caught my eye. Magic and science, battling it out? Sweet!!

I wish we'd gotten to see the main characters as kids a bit more, and maybe more of an understanding of their families (why did no one see how whackadoo Roberta was?) but that's not the end of the world. Would have liked to have seen this all drawn out a bit more overall, to be honest. So many characters, I wanted more of. More backstory, more life. Whether by just expanding the novel itself, or making it into a series, would have been amazing. But, we can't all get what we want, eh?

What we did get to see, was fun, and frenzied, which I think was the point. Before you get too interested in any one event, you're flying (heh) into something else. The characters kind of seemed to live their lives in a whirlwind, so this was fun to experience, in a way.

If the author ever writes in this world again, I'd read it, for sure. Not even just based on Patricia and Laurence, but the school, or the league of assassins, or what Roberta is doing with those chickens these days.

View all my reviews

Review: Warcross (Warcross, #1)

Warcross by Marie Lu
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Not bad!

There's some sloppy bits (the main character has an obsession with her hair, it's a bit odd) and is a bit cliched, but all around a fun time.

Pretty clearly a modern take on Snow Crash, but nothing wrong with that!

Wish the rivalries and relationships within Emika's team were a little more hashed out, but with how busy she is, not too surprising that most of them were kind of one dimensional.

Lots of things popped out at me as obvious twists, the big one at the end included.

Still going to read the rest of the series. I found it a light and easy read, and sometimes that's all anyone needs.

View all my reviews

Review: The Grownup

The Grownup by Gillian Flynn
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Looked for books recommended to people who liked The Girl on the Train and this popped up. I liked Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl so went for it.

At only 64 pages, I plowed through it in probably two hours, would have been faster if I'd not been reading between calls at work. ;)

You have an unnamed narrator, who is a scam artist by birth, essentially. Her mom taught her all she knows, and then she got better at it. At the start, she's a very specific sort of prostitute. She upgrades to a better position, a psychic, in her work place. It makes sense, I promise, if you read it.

In her new role, a woman comes to her and asks her for help at home... Psychic cleansing and the like. Which our narrator doesn't believe in, but she does as asked, and the money is good.

Things get really weird from there, and since it is a short story, I can't say too many details without basically giving it all away, but it is worthwhile of a read! Especially because, let's be honest, it's only 64 pages, not that hard to slough though if you decide it's not your style.

It was a bit strange reading it though, made me think of Neil Gaiman at first! Around the middle part is when it got back to Gillian's style, IMO.

Only four stars because of the ending. I swear this woman likes to drive me (and probably everyone else) insane with the way she does endings. Still good, just kind of infuriating!

Wouldn't mind a full novel of this though. Doubt it'll happen, but it'd be nice.

View all my reviews

Review: Cruel Crown

Cruel Crown by Victoria Aveyard
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

First off, technically this is two novellas in one. Plus a bit of the second book in the Red Queen series, Glass Sword, which I read BEFORE this, and I kind of regret it.

The first mini novella is Queen Song, a look at Cal's mother, Coriane. I really enjoyed this story, even though it was so horribly sad.

In the main series, Coriane is shown as having been adored by all, loved by her king, the people, and so on. With some rumours that she wormed her way in, thanks to her power of being a Singer, someone who can get people to do what they want, with some "singing"...

We see her meet Cal's father, Tibe, and their friendship, which of course, ends up as a romance. She never thinks well of herself though, and I think if this book series were to take place in present time, she would have been diagnosed with depression, the poor girl.

We also see how she dies, though I don't want to spoil how it happens, it's very sad, for her and obviously for her son, whose life turns kind of awful for her lacking in it.

All in all, I was hoping to see something about her, and this satisfied the questions I had about Cal's mother. Sad as they may be.

The second novella included, Steel Scars, has a focus on Captain Farley!

This was where I was upset I'd already read Glass Sword, some people (no, not naming names) who died in the second book, are alive and well in Steel Scars, and it made me upset all over again, to see them living without a care, bah!

The pace also changed, and I'm not quite sure what happened. It dragged on, for the most part, until Farley meets up with someone (for the sake of spoilers, not naming names) that spices the whole party up. But that's about halfway through!

I understood the need for the military notes going back and forth, but I honestly mostly skimmed them, unless deaths were mentioned. They seemed out of place to me, especially since there was no explanation for how the correspondence was even happening!

In the end, it was interesting to see some of the behind the scenes work of the Scarlet Guard, but I'm glad it was just a mini novella, versus a whole novel worth!

I rated this 4 stars, but really, I'd have given Queen Song 5 stars, and Steel Scars 3 stars. 4 stars seems a fair trade off!

View all my reviews

Review: The Martian

The Martian by Andy Weir
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Mark Watney is stuck on Mars!

An accident leaves an astronaut abandoned on Mars, for an unknown amount of time. What will he do to survive?

The story is mostly told by Mark's diary entries, which are sometimes horrifying (he's alone on Mars!), sometimes too "smart" for me (lots of chemistry talk), but very often hilarious. He has a great sense of humour, even in a horrible and unforgiving situation. He makes the best of the worst possible situation.

Mark is a botanist, who gets to try tilling the Mars soil for the first time, he makes me feel like a total failure, for only having barely figured how to grow simple things! Truly, he is an inspiration to those of us who want to have gardens ever. He also has to take on the role of a computer guy, a mechanic, a self-serve doctor, everything his crew was meant to do, but now he needs to figure it out on his own, sometimes with or without aid from back on Earth.

We also get to see how NASA reacts when they find out he isn't dead. I'm left wondering how close to their real operations the reaction was, it was really well done!

Some points really make you worry about what will happen next, which are rough when you're tired but want to just keep reading!

I know it's already out as a movie, but I really do recommend this book for anyone, even if you don't have a PhD in all the sciences, ha!

View all my reviews

Just this and that!

In the past couple of days, I've gotten two more new books to review! One that isn't officially released (nor will it be, until June!) so I feel extra excited about that one. Being ahead of the game is always exciting, isn't it?

I'm also joining a few drawing/scribble challenges. They (um, internet people?) seem to like to congregate on Instagram for these things, so I've had to create an Instagram account, since I forgot my old one. Yeah, I'm one of those weird ducks who doesn't do Instagram, ha!

Soon, I will be all over the internet. Every tiny corner. Every single one. Waiting, watching. Oooooo~! (For what? I don't know. Things. Internet things.)

I've also been learning more about how to blog correctly. Who knew there was a right and wrong way to do this sort of thing? Not changing my layout again, apart from adding the little Instagram logo on the toolbar, heh. But hopefully bringing more/better content.

Other topics of interest coming up in the near future:

• Camp NaNoWriMo starts up again on April 1st! I'll be doing at least one short story, maybe two, whoo hoo!
• I have an odd thing on my task list, #102 - Paint rocks + leave them places... Going to start collecting rocks for this, and giving it an actual "project" name. It's nice and cheesy, my husband rolled his eyes when I told him it. It'll be wonderful!
• More book reviews, obviously!
• Who knows what else. Magical things, maybe!

Review: Glass Sword

Glass Sword by Victoria Aveyard
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

**No Spoilers!**

Okay, so maybe it's my fault for being so hyped for this book, having read and LOVED the first one, I wanted this book in the worst way. As soon as I got my hands on it, I dove in... and was actually a bit disappointed!

The book starts off where the first book ended, like, to the point that it felt that the last and first chapter were actually part of one longer chapter that got cut in two. I already wasn't happy about how the first book ended (too obviously leading into a sequel, which I KNEW about, but it was written too openly obvious) and am wondering if the author did this on purpose, or someone else told her to do it?

There's a whole lot of jumping around in this book, that I sometimes forgot that characters were included in certain scenes. There would be a lot of focus on Mare and Cal for example, but someone they brought along with them, would suddenly be there, and I'd have to flip back to see if they just weren't mentioned at all, forgotten. Nope, they'd get an off-handed mention, and then 5 pages later, get in a word or two. Very weird.

Also, I understand there was a need to find the other "special" people ("newbloods"), but oh my lord, I really could not remember who was who after a while. Tons of names and skills, extreme praise for some (one little boy was awed over, and I was hoping to see more of his skill, but he vanished!) who never got another mention after their discovery. While some who barely got a mention suddenly were very important to a later task, making me wonder who they were!

All in all, it reads like the poor author had a deadline she didn't know how to meet, and jammed in as many new characters as possible without fleshing them out properly. I'd love to see perhaps some side stories for a few of them, or maybe they'll get better in the next book.

Still enjoyed the book, the ending made me angry (for the right reasons this time!), and I'm waiting to see what happens next. Hopefully with a bit more care taken to the writing!

View all my reviews

Review: The Productivity Project: Accomplishing More by Managing Your Time, Attention, and Energy

The Productivity Project: Accomplishing More by Managing Your Time, Attention, and Energy by Chris Bailey
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This isn't my usual sort of reading (take a look at my "read books" shelf here, and you'll see what I mean) but this seemed interesting, and so I gave it a shot.

As someone who has a busy little life (being a mom, working on starting a business, etc) I look forward to anything that can help make things a bit more manageable. I've started to use a Bullet Journal to keep track of what I do every day, try to get to-do lists done, and so on. But a journal can't tell me HOW to manage it all, just gives me a spot to write it down.

Chris Bailey helps fill in what I've been missing, with this book. He's got lots of hints and tips (not all that apply to me, as I am not running my business currently, but soon, we hope!) on how to manage your time, to make you EXCITED to work (which to some people, seems nuts, lol), and how to even have free time despite getting all the things done.

I enjoy the little "challenges" he's got littered through the book. I haven't done any of them yet, but plan on doing a few with my husband, who is even worse at time management than me. He's going to be my business partner, so being on the same page about even more things, will be wonderful!

Aside from the "business" end of things, I like how Chris speaks through the book. His sense of humour is great, I found myself laughing at random little bits and bops all over. That he's Canadian doesn't hurt any (we both laughed at the currency exchange thing, too true for life, sigh) and keeps things a bit more "familiar" to me. To add, all of the things he recommends in his book, are due to trying out a TON of things that are supposed to help people, but might not always work. He took the time to test it all, so you don't have to! What a nice guy, typical Canadian, heh.

Going to re-read this and do a bunch of challenges, and really do recommend it to anyone who wants to learn how to deal with time management a bit better, as well as general happiness!

Chris's site is located at alifeofproductivity.com (ayearofproductivity.com in the book, I guess a year wasn't enough for him? It shouldn't be, for anyone, though!) and because I have to SAY this, "I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review." (Rules are rules.) but honestly, it's a good read, with good ideas, and even if you don't get it for free or cheap (though hey, nothing wrong with a library!) it is worth a read!

View all my reviews

Review: Red Queen

Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

**NO spoilers!**

Okay, I'll admit, I only heard about this book because the sequel came out, and half the internet seemed to be excited for it, so, I had to see what the big deal was.

Now I understand!

I picked it up from the library, and let it sit for a couple of days, but as soon as I opened it, I didn't really want to put it down. Even though I was half asleep and could barely keep my eyes open. I managed five pages on my first day (or first ten minutes lol) and was already hooked. I needed to know more about Mare in the worst way.

The character development is amazing, I cared about characters that sometimes only got a singular mention, before vanishing or dying or whatever may have you. THAT is amazing. Of course, caring about the main characters can be a bit harder (especially with all the twists and turns of peoples' loyalties, good lord!) but despite all their quirks and mistakes and changes of heart, I still want to know more about them, good OR bad.

My one complaint is that the end of the book CLEARLY leads into needing a sequel. Yes, it makes me want/need more (COME ON LIBRARY WAITING LIST, HURRY UP!) but it felt unfinished. But really, that's a small problem for me. Probably would bother me more if I knew I had to wait a year or more for the sequel!

Overall, really enjoyed it, trying to poke my husband into reading it (usually he enjoys my referrals!) and I do recommend it to anyone who likes fantasy, even if you're an adult. :) YA is for everyone!

View all my reviews