Review 208: Life as We Knew It..

Posted March 22, 2016 by Ana in Reviews | 1 Comment

What’s great about this book is the character development: a protagonist who starts out making me want to chuck the book but develops into someone more caring and selfless WITH some stumbling and falling along the way. Miranda doesn’t automatically become caring once the disaster hits. Along the way, she has selfish moments and makes stupid decisions, which I appreciated in the narrative. It shows the effect that this kind of disaster can have on someone when their world is turned upside-down and everything changes. Aside from the main character, I really liked her immediate family (aka the ones we […]

Review 207: Snow Like Ashes (S..

Posted March 15, 2016 by Ana in Reviews | 5 Comments

In this book, the Big Secret or Twist was guessed by me pretty early on. I think it tended to drag during some chapters (maybe it was because I listening to the audiobook over the course of like… 20 days?), and I wasn’t particularly enamored by the appearance of a love triangle. But I still liked this book. Enough to give it four stars, even! Enough to be seriously interested in the rest of the series, even! The world-building was absolutely fascinating. The dynamics of the Season kingdoms (both within the kingdoms, how the Seasons relate to each other, and […]

Talk to Me 92: Series Disinter..

Posted March 11, 2016 by Ana in Talk To Me! | 2 Comments

Last week, I talked about my different levels of series interest. Today, I want to talk about losing interest in a series. Specifically, I want to talk about how I decide that the series is just not for me, and what I do about it. So let’s say I pick up the first book in a new series, read it, finish it and my reaction is… A resounding “meh” or a “Well, I didn’t like that.” To decide whether or not I want to continue the series, I end up asking myself the following questions: Why didn’t I like that? […]

Review 206: The Incredible Adv..

Posted March 8, 2016 by Ana in Reviews | 1 Comment

This book and I were off to a slow start. I picked it up maybe a few months ago, and was interested by the whole doomsday coming to a small town premise, but it didn’t grab me. Maybe it was because I kept mixing up the characters because I wasn’t really getting a feel for their personalities, at least not until I picked it up again today. Actually, I still kept getting the characters mixed up but I managed to get through the book. And I liked it! When I picked it up, I thought it was going to be […]

Talk to Me 91: Series Interest

Posted March 4, 2016 by Ana in Talk To Me! | 6 Comments

How many series are you currently in the middle of? According to my series taxonomy (Thanks, UBBV3!), I have reviews for this blog for 81 series. Eighty-one doesn’t seem too bad, and the actual number may be lower since I didn’t exclude series that I had already finished. But it’s a good ballpark number for me to visualise and try to understand. Do I actually keep up with all of these series? No way! I have varying degrees of what we will call… Series Interest. Today, I want to talk about my different levels of Series Interest, and what questions do […]

Review 205: Snow in Summer (Ja..

Posted March 2, 2016 by Ana in Reviews | 1 Comment

This retelling focused more on Summer’s life before she runs from her stepmother, which I liked (for the most part). It tells the story of a young girl and her father dealing with the grief of her mother’s death, and the new stepmother who brings upheaval into her life. But I had problems with its characters and pacing, though Yolen’s writing is really good in that it conveys the atmosphere very well. Summer is a kind and obedient girl, observing her world and noticing the small things around her. The characters aren’t so fleshed out: kind main character, loving but […]

Monthly Digest: The month of n..

Posted February 29, 2016 by Ana in Monthly Digest | 2 Comments

Wow, a monthly digest! How long has it been? According to my archives, the last Monthly Digest was… In July! Hot dang, dear reader! I’ve really let this feature waffle, haven’t I? But February was a chance for new starts and in this digest, I want to talk about new blog things! First, the layout that uses art that I commissioned from the awesome Nick Beecher. Seriously, if you need some awesome-looking art, drop him a line! He’s really nice, and I think his art’s pretty dang cool! :D This layout uses the ever-dependable Tweak Me v2 and resources from […]

Talk to Me 90: One book, many ..

Posted February 24, 2016 by Ana in Talk To Me! | 4 Comments

Audiobooks, e-books, and print books. Those are the formats I usually read books in, though I’m leaning more towards the first two nowadays because they are more easily accessible. I also tend to listen to audiobooks when I’m on the go and generally can’t just sit still while listening to them. If I start reading a book in e-book format, or listening to it in audiobook format, I hardly ever switch. I know other bloggers enjoy switching between the different formats, but either I forget or I just can’t be bothered, haha! So today, I want to talk about my […]

Review 204: Red Queen (Victori..

Posted February 22, 2016 by Ana in Reviews | 1 Comment

Well, that was pretty underwhelming, and a little bit confusing. I think it mostly had to do with me not really getting a grasp on the world that Aveyard was trying to build. I hear of kings and queens and superpowers, and I think that it’s magic and my mind clicks to a fantasy setting like Game of Thrones. But then we have all this crazy technology and weapons and it seems like another futuristic dystopian title. And it made me think more of like… The Hunger Games or something with a similar level of technology. “But Ana,” you say. […]

Minireviews: Graphic novel tim..

Posted February 21, 2016 by Ana in Reviews | 0 Comments

A while back, I decided to try out my library’s graphic novel catalogue. As you can see, one trial turned into BINGE READING, WOO! Hence, minireview time! Okay, that book was so CUTE! For reals, the vibrant and dynamic art serves its equally and vibrant story so well. The characters are super fun, and I definitely saw parts of my younger self and my friends in the characters. Telgemeier puts together such a lovely story about middle schoolers trying to put on a play, but also discovering new things about themselves and each other along the way. For me, it […]