Books | Amy C. Shaw

Mini Review Roundup

January 17, 2016 • 9 Comments

It’s been ages since I’ve written a real book review (November to be exact), so I thought I was overdue to share a few thoughts on some of my reads from December and my first read of the new year.

Killer Instinct (The Naturals #2) by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Contemporary/Thriller YA

I read The Naturals more than a year ago and I was slightly worried about remembering enough about Cassie and company after so much time away (yay book amnesia), but I had no problems getting back into the swing of things! I enjoyed this one even more than the first; I thought the pacing was spot-on and I was engaged the whole time. I hated the love triangle in the first book and I thought I had read in a review that it was even more pronounced in this one, but it actually bothered me less this time. She does choose someone at the end, but since there are at least two more books I’m a little curious if this is her final choice or not. I don’t have a strong preference between the guys but I’d hate for her to go back and forth. Overall though, I really enjoyed this book and look forward to the next one!

4 stars/Content advisory: some violence

My True Love Gave to Me, edited by Stephanie Perkins

Holiday Young Adult – Some Contemporary, Some Magical Realism

I finally got to read this anthology this past holiday season and it was definitely a mixed bag for me. You can see my Goodreads review where I broke down my thoughts on each individual story, but I did not finish two of the stories, while a couple of others really stood out to me. My favorite overall turned out to be Stephanie Perkins’ story, which felt appropriate since it’s her anthology, and I was excited to find out that in her upcoming summer anthology, Summer Days and Summer Nights, we’ll get follow-up with the same characters!

3 stars overall/Content varies by story

In Between (Katie Parker Productions #1) by Jenny B. Jones

Contemporary Christian YA

I had gotten the e-book of this one for cheap or free a while ago and let it sit in my Nook for a long time. I had read one previous book by Jenny B. Jones and liked it but didn’t love it. I was also nervous because I feel that most Christian books are either not as well edited or they’re a little on the cheesy side, but I always want to find good Christian literature so I pick up something from the genre every now and then. I wouldn’t really recommend this book to people who are not familiar with church or Christian culture, even though Katie herself is not familiar with many of the terms used by others in the story either, however, I didn’t think it was cheesy at all.

The main character, Katie, has a great voice, and she made me laugh quite a few times! There were several great, quirky characters who felt natural and made the story fun, even with some serious elements thrown in. There was no romance for Katie in this book, which I missed a little but was OK with under the circumstances, but it looks like there will be in future books. There are three more books in the series and I definitely intend to continue!

4 stars

Quidditch Through the Ages (Hogwarts Library) by Kennilworthy Whisp (J.K. Rowling)

I love quidditch, but learning about it wasn’t quite as fun as I hoped it would be. There were some interesting tidbits though, and it was a fast read.

3 stars

The Archived (The Archived #1) by Victoria Schwab

Young Adult

This was my first Schwab book! And it was very different from what I was expecting. I knew this book wasn’t a typical fantasy, but I thought it was going to be more fantasy rather than the contemporary/urban fantasy?/magical realism?/I have no idea what the heck to call this genre it was. That wasn’t bad though, just very unexpected. I had a hard time really grasping the idea of the Archived and Keepers and all that. I mean, it was explained well enough, but I never felt like I really understood why everything existed and why everything was the way it was. Maybe – probably – I was just supposed to accept it as it was, but it didn’t make sense to me.

I liked Mackenzie well enough but she also drove me crazy with how she would never tell anyone anything. The whole thing with Owen was kind of creepy and I did not like it. I did really like Wes though, and he’s pretty much the main reason I want to read the next book.

4 stars/Content advisory: Some language, violence

Have you read any of these books? What are your thoughts?

End of Year Survey – 2015!

December 28, 2015 • 9 Comments

For the past two years I have enjoyed this end of year survey by Jamie at the Perpetual Page-Turner! This year I decided to only focus on the Best in Books section. (Below graphic by Jamie too)

1. Best Book You Read In 2015? Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling. And yes, it was my FIRST TIME READING IT. I don’t think I have ever loved an ending so much.

2. Book You Were Excited About & Thought You Were Going To Love More But Didn’t? SHADOW SCALE

3. Most surprising (in a good way or bad way) book you read? Probably The Hero of Ages by Brandon Sanderson, or All Our Yesterdays by Cristin Terrill (both in good ways!)

4. Book You “Pushed” The Most People To Read (And They Did)? I keep pushing For Darkness Shows the Stars and Across a Star-Swept Sea (2013 and 2014 reads for me, respectively) and I think people are hearing my cry! I’ve also been pushing Mistborn and The Start of Me and You lately and I think that might be working too.

5. Best series you started in 2015? Best Sequel of 2015? Best Series Ender of 2015? Started: Mistborn/Sequel: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling/ Ender: Deathly Hallows

6. Favorite new author you discovered in 2015? Only time will tell for sure, but either Emery Lord or Annie F. Downs, I think.

7. Best book from a genre you don’t typically read/was out of your comfort zone? For genre out of my comfort zone it would be Do Over by Jon Acuff, a non-fiction business book, but I’ve read most of his books so that feels a little like cheating. I read almost entirely YA fiction though so I think that’s the best option. I might need to read more out of my comfort zone next year!

8. Most action-packed/thrilling/unputdownable book of the year? Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Though reading it while I had strep throat probably helped with the unputdownable part. All Our Yesterdays would probably be second.

9. Book You Read In 2015 That You Are Most Likely To Re-Read Next Year? Probably The Start of Me and You by Emery Lord.

10. Favorite cover of a book you read in 2015? The Start of Me and You and Under a Painted Sky by Stacey Lee. Obviously I like pretty sunsets/sunrises.

11. Most memorable character of 2015? Luna Lovegood from the HP books.

12. Most beautifully written book read in 2015? The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdeih.

13. Most Thought-Provoking/ Life-Changing Book of 2015? Let’s All Be Brave by Annie F. Downs. I needed it so much. Also, The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath was super thought-provoking.

14. Book you can’t believe you waited UNTIL 2015 to finally read? All the Harry Potter books I read. And Mistborn! Nikki has only been pushing it for forever, with good reason!

15. Favorite Passage/Quote From A Book You Read In 2015? My first fave is a super long passage from The Hero of Ages from when Vin and Elend dance for the first time. MAJOR swoons right there. You can check out a portion of it on my Tumblr. For a shorter quote though, I’ll go with…

16.Shortest & Longest Book You Read In 2015? Shortest: Austenland by Shannon Hale: 197 pages. Longest: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling: 870 pages.

17. Book That Shocked You The Most The ending of The Hero of Ages was SHOCKING to me to say the least. I experienced a very wide range of emotions, but needless to say, I think it was definitely the right ending.

18. OTP OF THE YEAR Vin and Elend from Mistborn! Oh the bantery swoons! Second place goes to my non-canon ship of Luna and Neville (thank you Deathly Hallows part two movie for making this almost seem real!).

19. Favorite Non-Romantic Relationship Of The Year Harry and Hermione, though this was definitely intensified once again by the Deathly Hallows movie because THAT DANCE SCENE. <3

20. Favorite Book You Read in 2015 From An Author You’ve Read Previously Deathly Hallows & other HP books first, Mistborn trilogy second, Winter by Marissa Meyer third.

21. Best Book You Read In 2015 That You Read Based SOLELY On A Recommendation From Somebody Else/Peer Pressure: Mistborn

22. Newest fictional crush from a book you read in 2015? When you’re married and nearly 30 this is sort of an awkward question, but if I had to choose it would be Max from The Start of Me and You. I mean, he knows Pride and Prejudice AND Firefly.

23. Best 2015 debut you read? Don’t Touch by Rachel M. Wilson

24. Best Worldbuilding/Most Vivid Setting You Read This Year? I think the best worldbuilding would go to Rook by Sharon Cameron, but the most vivid setting would go to The Wrath and the Dawn. The latter was filled with so much rich description that I loved. The former’s world was so interesting, and though I’ll admit I didn’t complete understand some of it until I read the author’s note after the novel, I could tell it was very well-thought out and carefully crafted.

25. Book That Put A Smile On Your Face/Was The Most FUN To Read? The Start of Me and You by Emery Lord, Austenland by Shannon Hale, The Hitch-hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams, and In Between by Jenny B. Jones.

26. Book That Made You Cry Or Nearly Cry in 2015? I think The Hero of Ages and The Deathly Hallows both got me to tear up or nearly cry.

27. Hidden Gem Of The Year? Don’t Touch by Rachel M. Wilson. This book deserves more love!

28. Book That Crushed Your Soul? The Last Time We Say Goodbye by Cynthia Hand.

29. Most Unique Book You Read In 2015? The Hitch-hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams.

30. Book That Made You The Most Mad (doesn’t necessarily mean you didn’t like it)? Shadow Scale

Check out all the books I read and re-read here. Thankfully, I enjoyed almost everything I read this year, but obviously there were a few stand-outs mentioned a few times in this survey. 🙂 What were some of your favorite reads this year?

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?

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