Amy C. Shaw

The Top 8 Books on my Winter TBR

December 22, 2015 • 25 Comments

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. This week’s topic is Top Ten Books I Wouldn’t Mind Santa Leaving Under My Tree This Year. But instead, today I’m being a REBEL and doing the Top 10 (or really 8) Books on my Winter TBR. This is a big deal for a rule follower like me…

Jemma = me

I do have a purpose to my rebellion though. I LOVE doing seasonal TBR lists. I never follow them to the letter, but it helps me form a game plan and keep me somewhat on track with my TBR. So I was incredibly sad to to see no Top Ten Tuesday topic for our winter TBR list month! What is this blasphemy?! Winter has started, so there’s no time like the present for this list! Besides, this list includes books I am anticipating getting for Christmas. In no particular order…

1. & 2. Killer Instinct and All In (The Naturals #2 & #3) by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

I read The Naturals over a year ago and I’m ready to continue the story!

3. The Fixer by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

If I actually follow this list, I’ll be reading a lot of Jennifer Lynn Barnes! I got this one for my birthday and still need to read it.

4. Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon

I’ve been moderately interested in this one thanks to the positive reviews, but now that it’s my next book club read, I’ll be reading it soon for sure!

5. Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

I want to read this one for the hype. And it definitely looked really interesting when I saw it in person, especially underneath that dust jacket! I’m intrigued!

6. Vicious by V.E. Schwab

I bought this one a few months ago and have been meaning to read it since before then, but Victoria Schwab is coming to town (well, she’s actually local to Nashville, but I anticipate seeing her at an upcoming event in a few months) so I need to read this one and/or my next pick…

7. The Archived by Victoria Schwab

For a while I had no interest in this one, but now I do! I asked for it for Christmas, and as previously mentioned, I’d like to read something by Schwab before I see her!

8. Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys

I’ve been meaning to read this one for ages, and now that I own it I fully intend to do so sooner rather than later!

9 and 10 are kind of up for grabs. I have some books I own that I still need to read, books I have been thinking about grabbing from the library, or new shinies that are very likely to crop up. Possibilities include but are not limited to…

What’s on your winter TBR?

Character Study: Kaz from Six of Crows

December 17, 2015 • 5 Comments

When I read reviews of Six of Crows before reading the book for myself, I saw mention of how the characters aren’t really the nicest people around. Because of this, I was a little wary of being able to connect with any of the characters, which is what ultimately connects me with the story at large. Thankfully, I found myself liking two of the six main characters a good bit: Inej, and surprisingly, Kaz.

Source

I won’t spoil any details, but what I will say is that Kaz is probably the least nice, least good person out of the crew of six. And yet, I really liked reading about his character. And I wondered why this was.

There is a Writing Excuses podcast episode I listened to a while ago about how to make characters likable, and they talked about “sliding scales.” There are a few different scales you can play with, so while your character might not be the nicest person, sliding that scale low, you crank up the competence scale. This example definitely applies to Kaz. He seems cold-hearted, and for the most part he is, but he is very competent at what he does.

But he does also care for someone, not just Inej, but also his brother, and we see both of these relationships are very crucial parts of him as a character, in how he behaves and the choices he makes. Because of these relationships, combined with his intelligence and competence, combined with physical and mental weakness, he feels like a very fleshed out character. And he doesn’t feel like an antagonist or a villain because he has just enough relatability to make you root for him, even when you know you probably shouldn’t.

Who is a character you like from a book even though you feel you shouldn’t? Who was your favorite character in Six of Crows, and why?

The Top Ten Best Books I Read In 2015

December 15, 2015 • 18 Comments

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. This week’s topic is Top Ten Best Books I Read In 2015. I read a lot more good and great books than just OK books, but at the end it thankfully wasn’t too hard to whittle down to my very favorites of the year. I tried to put them in order to leave my absolute favorite for last, but sometimes exact order is challenging. 🙂 I chose these largely based on what has stayed with me.

10. The Last Time We Say Goodbye by Cynthia Hand

I read this one because I thought it might be helpful with how someone might heal after someone close to them committing suicide (which is something my main character in my WIP has to go through) and wow, this was just so beautifully done. I don’t usually read heavy-issue contemporaries, but I’m glad I read this one.

9. Winter by Marissa Meyer

The ending of The Lunar Chronicles! Sob! So I haven’t reviewed this on the blog yet, so I will go ahead and say that I think the pacing of the book suffered a bit and made it lag a little in parts for me, but overall I was so happy to see all these characters again and how their stories would end!

8. All Our Yesterdays by Critin Terrill

I finally read this book I had heard so much fuss about, and it was worth the hype! I don’t know how to describe it succinctly, but let’s just say the ending was unlike anything else I’ve read in YA, but it felt really right for the story. I definitely recommend it if you haven’t read it yet!

5-7. (listed in series order not ranked order) Mistborn (of The Final Empire), The Well of Ascension, and The Hero of Ages by Brandon Sanderson

If you know Nikki at all, you know she “pushes” these books on everyone. Listen to Nikki. Talk about another shock ending! This is great fantasy right here, folks. I have a massive amount of love for these characters!

4. Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling

Out of all the HP books this is my second fave. After the first three feeling a bit juvenile (minus the ending of The Prisoner of Azkaban), this one was instantly darker and Rowling just really brought her pacing A-game. I loved everything about it!

3. Let’s All Be Brave by Annie F. Downs

I needed to read this book when I did. I probably need to reread it soon. It’s good to know you don’t have to think of yourself as daring to be brave in life.

2. The Start of Me and You by Emery Lord

THIS BOOK. Contemporary romance perfection. I never would have dreamed of a book like this being my second fave of the year but it was just very me. I mean, references to Pride and Prejudice AND Firefly? A friendship that slowly turns into more? I will probably reread this one next year because it’s just so enjoyable!

1. Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling

This was the book that sealed the deal on HP hype for me. I devoured the series finale and just loved every moment of it, even with all that camping. It was just the perfect ending with every question I had answered to my satisfaction.

Compare this list to my mid-year rankings here.

What were your favorite reads of 2015?

Star Trek DS9 Season Two: My Top 5 Fave Episodes

December 2, 2015 • 2 Comments

As my husband and I are going through our second full watch of Star Trek as a couple, I thought it would be fun to report on the highlights along the way. So I decided to copy the same format as Charlene at Bookish Whimsy, who is going through her first-ever run of Star Trek and sharing her favorite episodes for each season. To compare, see her favorite episodes of Deep Space Nine season two.

OMG, stuff got real a lot quicker than I remembered! I knew that the end of season 2 was a real game-changer, but there were some good episodes all throughout season two that were good indicators of what DS9 would come to be known for. I’m so happy to be watching it again!

I had a really hard time choosing my five… two were really obvious favorites, and then after that I felt most of the other episodes were equally good! It doesn’t help I feel it’s been a while since I’ve watched some of these with TNG season 7 and live TV shows being watched in between episodes, so I did the best I could with trying to narrow it down. I wanted to be sure to note the honorable mentions, The Maquis Parts 1 and 2 and The Jem’Hadar, which set up a lot of what’s to come!

5. Whispers

O’Brien wonders why everyone on the station seems so wary of him. As he seeks out the truth, it turns out to be quite a surprise…

4. Necessary Evil

This one is interesting as we get a look back in time to how the station was during the Cardassian occupation, and specifically how Odo came into his role.

3. Tribunal

O’Brien must suffer! I have to say, this could have been interesting as two episodes, with more torture for O’Brien and a good B plot too, but what we got was interesting. It’s a look into the Cardassian judiciary system (which is terrible) and we learn a lot about O’Brien as a character.

2. The Wire

On my first watch of DS9, I didn’t like Garak until I watched this episode, and then everything about him made so much more sense and I finally understood him. I love seeing Bashir’s relentless efforts to help Garak in this episode. And we get this great line: “It’s all true… especially the lies.”

1. The Siege

This was the third episode of the season, and the first one that made me be like whoa, this is definitely feeling like DS9. There were some really funny moments, but also dark moments, and it doesn’t wrap up nicely like most Star Trek episodes before had.

What are your favorite episodes of Deep Space Nine season two?

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