And…

Let me start by telling you about the characters.

The protagonist is Aza, a teenage girl struggling with mental illness. She experiences anxiety and (what I assume) OCD episodes through her day to day life. Outside of that, she lives a normal life with her mom.

There’s Daisy, she is Aza’s best friend and in her free time writes Star Wars fan-fiction on her phone. That’s the extent of her personality, so I won’t mention her again.

And there’s also Davis, the billionaire boy who once went to “sad camp” with Aza. His father has disappeared after being accused of fraud, and he needs to take care of his little brother.

If you don’t find these characters interesting, don’t read the book, because NOTHING happens beyond these characters existing.

But why do I think the book was boring? Well, I’m glad you asked!

Aza: Though I really, really liked seeing what happened inside Aza’s mind during her anxiety/OCD episodes, I don’t think the plot was strong enough to keep me interested.

I liked learning and empathizing a bit more with her and with the way the book explained her illness. So I do like the fact that her character EXISTS, but outside of the mental illness, she lives a very normal life and doesn’t seem to have a personality, or any hobbies or interests. When she’s not having an episode, the narrator just brushes the story away like “days passed and I did stuff and I ate at Applebee’s”.

So, on one hand I liked Aza, but on the other hand I didn’t feel a connection to her because she didn’t have a personality outside of her illness. AND THAT’S BORING TO ME. Don’t tell me people with mental illnesses don’t have personalities!

Davis: a.k.a the rich cute boy love interest was blandest than mass produced white bread. He’s not a POV character, so we only get to see him through Aza’s eyes. And all she sees is “he’s cute”.

And all he says are boring lines about not being sure if people only likes him because of his money. I think he literally makes that same money comment EVERY time he talks to Aza.

Me: You’re not your money.
Him: Then what am I? What is anyone?
Me: I is the hardest word to define.
Him: Maybe you are what you can’t not be.
Me: Maybe. How’s the sky?
Him: Great. Huge. Amazing.

Sometimes he talks about other things, like being a rich kid with a busy dad that never hugs him and all that rich kid clichéd stuff. And he’s supposed to be the interesting one because of the MYSTERIOUSLY MISSING DAD.

But I guess Davis is not that bothered by his father’s disappearance because he doesn’t actively looks for him. No one really does. There’s this missing person that everyone talks about but we get to see just a little bit of INTERNET research about it.

Why even add this big mystery if the main character won’t be involved in solving it??

And I think that’s all that happens in the book. 

I have a lot of mixed feelings because I like THE IDEA of this story. Of a girl with OCD and anxiety that struggles with invasive thoughts even though she KNOWS they’re not real. Her inner dialogues (though repetitive) where the best part of the book.

As someone who has dealt with invasive thoughts myself, though in a smaller scale, I felt that the author captured them perfectly. She was in a constant battle with herself, thinking these awful things while trying to convince herself not to think them.

I also liked that she didn’t magically fixed herself with the power of friendship, or the power of love, or the power of really, really wanting to get better…

BUT, imagine if there was more to this book.

If we got more than a protagonist with anxiety, but a protagonist with an actual personality, with adventures or an interesting life. We have Holden Caulfield from The Catcher in the Rye and Esther Greenwood from The Bell Jar. And both of them are characters with feelings and ideas and even dreams and actions that go beyond their depression.

Sadly, I don’t think there’s more to this book than those alluring glimpses into Aza’s thoughts. 

Also…

They repeat this line a couple of times about how “…we were looking at the same sky together” and I kept snorting because, no way, Sherlock.

How many times have you been with someone and you look up at the sky and each of you sees a different sky? 

The post Books With Bland Characters Are Boring – My Turtles All The Way Down Review appeared first on Pretty Geekery.

The author, Marissa Meyer, is hosting a bunch of giveaways to celebrate. You can check it out here!

I was lucky to receive an ebook ARC of Renegades from Netgalley, so I already finished it.

Before the review, here’s my short summary of Renegades:

Renagades is a bit like X-Men, if the X-Men replaced the government and the bad guys (Magneto’s guys) had to live underground after losing THE great battle. 

But it also has espionage, secret identities and forbidden romance (but it’s not all focused on the romance, don’t worry).

Also, the main protagonist is a supervillain called The Nightmare, with the power of putting anyone to sleep by touching them. And the other protagonist is a superhero with not just one, but two secret identities. 

Aaand that’s basically it.

• It’s fun!

The best part about this book is that I had fun reading it. Independently of how good or bad it was, I just liked the way it was written since it was mostly fast-paced and full of “things to look at”. The world building felt natural enough that it wasn’t overwhelming, but at the same time it kept showing new bits and concepts through the book, so it kept being entertaining even during slower chapters. I liked reading about the different and funky superpowers and theorizing about what kind of talent some characters could have. 

It was also fun having two perspectives of this world. One from Adrian, a hero trying to catch a dangerous villain. And the other from Nova, a villain that infiltrates into Adrian’s team to steal information. There was a lot of secret identities and broken alliances too. See? All of the fun stuff!

• But not your typical uplifting Marvel-esque superhero story.

I haven’t actually read a lot of comic books, but I’ve watched all the Marvel movies so at least I know how superheros work. And to be honest I’ve been getting tired of the same old formula from those movies.  This story has a more realistic approach to superheroes though. It shows that not everyone is happy about having heroes on the street because they’re too intimidating, and that a hero’s job can get get incredibly bureaucratic! Also, and most importantly, that in a world full of different superpowers, there would be a big chance of people using their powers for their own selfish reasons (which is a main theme in the book).

It reminds me a lot of X-Men now that I think about it, since there’s a constant battle between the Renegades (X-men), the Anarchists (Magneto’s allies) and the general public (people without superpowers). Except in this case the government and police were replaced by the X-Men and they’re currently ruling the country. Or at least they’re trying.

I especially enjoyed the first few chapters of the book since they were the most intense and felt like a combination of Sci-Fi / Thriller. They tell Nova’s origin story and in just a few chapters build a strong character with realistic motivations. 

• I felt this book was too long (576 pages according to Goodreads).

When I was about 35% into this book, I thought it had potential to be my favorite book of the year. But then it kind of slowed down. And it’s not that it got boring since, like I said, it’s overall a fun read. But I felt like the first few chapters had a lot of substance and a lot of character development… and then it felt a little flat. The characters stopped showing their human side and the plot got more predictable. It also stopped having the fast-paced action scenes from the beginning in exchange for longer and clichéd fights.

I think if the book had fewer pages, it could condense the second half were most of the “bland” stuff happens and it would feel more rich. Instead, it felt like the author was spreading a bit of butter in too much bread. (Credit to Bilbo Baggins for the analogy).

• Side characters felt a bit cardboard.

This was the saddest part! I was so in love with the first few chapters that I expected more characters to have a backstory and a strong personality. But apart from the two protagonists and their mentors, it felt like the rest of the world was just there to fill the empty space. There were a lot of sidekicks that could have been blended together to create more complete characters, instead of having so many people whose only trait was their superpower.

Even Adrian, the co-protagonist, didn’t have a lot of original thoughts after the first half of the book. He just kinda transformed into Captain America: lawful good, chivalrous, pretty, etc.

• It ends with a cliffhanger!

I hope you don’t consider this a spoiler, but I had to warn you! IT ENDS WITH AN ANNOYING CLIFFHANGER AND THERE’S NO RESOLUTION FOR “THE THING”. You will know what “the thing” is. By the way, the last chapter of the book is also very similar to X-Men.m

• You like stories that are focused on the villain’s side.
• You’re an X-Men fan and want to read a book with a similar vibe.
• You like espionage, secret identities and code names.
• You like “forbidden love” stories.
• You find weird superpowers interesting.
• You enjoy 500 pages long books (even if they don’t have a lot of action).

The post When fun books are not exactly that good (Review of Renegades by Marissa Meyer) appeared first on Pretty Geekery.

Also, as bookworm, the first thing I do when I want to get into a new hobby is getting a book. Forget all those free sources on the internet, I want to BUY books, and supplies and maybe join a club… before even learning to do the thing.

Well, while I was surfing Netgalley some weeks ago I noticed that I could request crafts books to review! And I thought ‘Well, I already have a million hobbies and almost no time for them…” And then immediately ignored myself and got 3 books with activities I wanted to try.

[A page from the book on the left. My practice pages with watercolor on the right.]

[A page from the book on the left. My practice page with a calligraphy pen on the right.]

I would totally recommend this book to hand-lettering begginers. Or to those who used to be kinda good at it when they were younger but don’t remember how they did it. Once you’re finished with the most basic exercises, you could go to the last section of the book which contains chalkboard art and watercolor ideas. And a really cute journal-ish section with 100 prompts to practice your hand-lettering. I have this book in digital format but I might get the physical version because of those prompts. I think the idea of filling the blank spaces in the book designed for practicing would inspire me to finish all the prompts!

Kawaii Doodle Class: Sketching Super-Cute Tacos, Sushi, Clouds, Flowers, Monsters, Cosmetics, and More

by Zainab Khan

[On the left: Book cover. On the right: Two examples of the doodle pages, I included the simplest and the most complicated I found]

This book was way too simple. It reminds me of children’s coloring books, those that come with activities and teach you how to draw simple things. But REALLY SIMPLE things. Since this was a “Doodle Class” I expected a more technical approach on how to make cute drawings. It would have been cool to get tips on how to choose color, line width, proportions, etc. Instead, it has 3 pages with Tips & Tricks like “use a mechanical pencil so you can erase your mistakes” or “add a face to make your drawing cute”. I think most of those tips were too simple even for kids.

[On the left: My notebook with some doodles I copied from the practice pages. On the right: Two pages from the book.]

Apart from the brief introduction to drawing doodles, this book is about 90% examples of doodles. It has a section of cute food with faces, another with cute nature with faces, or stationary with faces, and so on. I made some of those but I think my doodle skills didn’t change after the exercises. At most, I might have I learned a bit about perspective while drawing the sushi with a face (though the book didn’t explain anything about perspective, just tells you to copy the lines from the page). I think my favorite part of the book was the last section with some monster doodles. I thought those monsters were really cute and more original than just drawing food with faces. Also, at the very end it has some coloring pages and a couple of activities. (Too bad I have the ebook and not the printed version!)

[On the left: A doodle I made before reading the book. On the right: I edited my doodle following advice from the book]

Healthy Meal Prep: Time-Saving Plans to Prep and Portion Your Weekly Meals

by Stephanie F Tornatore, Adam W Bannon

The last book I got was Healthy Meal Prep by Stephanie Tornatore and Adam Bannon. And I know it might sound weird that I’m talking about meal prepping as a hobby, but it truly is! Cooking is one of my favorite things to do, and having a healthy cooking book makes me even more inspired! I also have been looking for healthy recipes lately, specially ones that I can make in advance in case I have a busy week.

If you’re looking for healthy, easy-to-make meals, you might like this book. UNLESS! Well, unless you hate eating the same thing 4 or 5 days in a row. I’m not a fan of meal prepping because most books/blogs tell you to prepare the same dish in a big quantity and then storing it in the fridge all week. And this book is not exception. It has great tips on how to save time while cooking, what to buy, how many calories are on each dish, etc. It even has a time table with a step-by-step page on how to cook 3 meals at the same time in about 1 hour. I though that was cool but I didn’t try it so I’m not sure how accurate it is.

[On the left: A page from the book. On the right: The Garlic Chicken I made! It was really good]

But I did try a couple of recipes! My favorite was the Garlic Chicken with Broccoli and Rice. I also liked the small section of the book on how to make some healthy sauces and dressings. I already went through all the recipes and would eat all of them (just not 5 days in a row). They don’t have weird or obscure ingredients and they’re simple to make. What I liked the most is that I can confidently make them in advance and store them in the fridge, since I know all the recipes were designed for that.

Thanks so much to NetGalley for sending me these digital books to review!

 Tell me if you also get books about your hobbies! Do you have a recommendation? Also, are you hungry after reading the words”Garlic Chicken”? Because I am.

The post Trying out new hobbies! 3 mini-book reviews appeared first on Pretty Geekery.

My cubicle’s drawers might have been bigger on the inside because they stored an impossible amount of junk, – you know, things I kept there for years “in case I needed them”? Like old Bic pens with leaked ink and a broken hole punch that only worked if a heavy person sat on it.

So even though my cubicle looked tidy, it was secretly a mess. A year later I found myself in a similar situation again when I moved to a new house. I needed two cars to carry the contents of my closet, bookshelves and desk only (leaked ink pens included). There wasn’t even a piece of furniture in there, only the small things.

That was the moment that made me consider I was hoarding too much stuff.

Too bad I hadn’t heard about The Life-Changing Manga of Tidying Up before moving out! I honestly think that it would have made my moving experiences way easier. And slightly less embarrassing.

Before starting my review I want to clarify: there are two versions of this Tidying Up book. The first one is the original book The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing by Marie Kondo.

The second one, the one I read, is The Life-Changing Manga of Tidying Up: A Magical Story. This is a graphic novelization of the first book.

So, in other words, this second book is the same thing but with drawings. (And it was written by the same author).

In this story we follow Chiaki, a twenty-nine years old with a very cluttered apartment (and life). Hmmm, talk about connecting with a character.

So one day Chiaki hires Marie Kondo, the famous tidying consultant, to help her declutter her apartment. And the rest of the book is about Chiaki learning the “KonMari” tidying method and the impact it has in her life.

• It’s a visual summary of the “Konmari Method”.

  In the original book Marie Kondo explains her tidying strategy, which she calls the Konmari method. In the manga, Marie herself is one of the characters and she teaches her method to Chiaki in the course of ten days/chapters. At the end of each chapter, Chiaki has learned one lesson and we get to read a summary of what we went through in that chapter to take action.

  I also liked that each chapter focused on a different step of tidying, from getting in the right mindset to actually storing things. Some chapters were dedicated to specific kinds of clutter, like decluttering books, papers, clothes, etc.

  

• And the method actually worked for me!

  One of my favorite chapters was #3 Finish Discarding First, in which Marie advises Chiaki to throw out -or donate- the things she doesn’t want to keep. The focus is not “What to throw away” but “What do I want to keep?”. And it’s such a simple thing but this actually worked for me, especially when cleaning my closet. I sometimes keep clothes I never wear because when I see them I think “this is not old/stained/ugly enough to be thrown out“. After Marie’s advice, I cleaned my closet and focused on the things I like and need.

  In the end, my closet only has things that I actually wear, and so far it’s been nice wearing more cute clothes around the house.

  Also, I had two boxes in my closet dedicated to “just because” trinkets, like used batteries, spare buttons and old keychains. I almost kept my collection of spare buttons but Marie specifically mentioned in the manga “Have you ever replaced one button that came off?”. So… I threw them out. I did keep a few trinkets because they were gifts from friends and I really wanted to keep them.

• It has some tips to become more organized.

  I’m not sure if the original book has illustrations, but the manga has very cute pages with storage tips like how to fold clothes and how to store important papers. As visual learner I loved these little guides! I kept adding pointers to the pages that inspired me to organize my room, so I can find them easily the next time I’m cleaning.

• The “Does this spark joy?” thing.

  So, this is the most famous quote from the book, and I get where it comes from but… it still was a little too spiritual for me. In the chapters about choosing the stuff you want to keep, Marie advises to hold every object in your hands and ask yourself “does this spark joy?”. If it does, you get to keep it. If not, you should throw it out. (Of course this doesn’t apply to things you actually need to keep in order to live like a civilized human).

  This process also involves thanking the things for their service. Like showing your gratefulness to a sweater for keeping you warm. Or saying good-bye to an old pair of shoes and thanking them for protecting your feet. I know that showing gratefulness to your everyday tools is something they do in Japan (Marie Kondo is Japanese), but I didn’t find these bits useful. 

  However, I am grateful for the things I have and when my room is neat and clean it actually brings me joy, so I get how some people might appreciate this side of the book. Also, though joy is the basis of the Konmari method, this spiritual side can be totally ignored and the book would still be useful and en-joy-able.

  On the other hand, you could acknowledge these parts but tone them down a little as I did. So instead of saying “Does this t-shirt spark joy?” you could say “Is this cute enough to keep?” or “Would I wear this t-shirt in front of people?”. Whatever works for you!

• You have a cluttered room, house or office and want inspiration to declutter
• You have a bunch of clothes you haven’t worn in more than a year
• You have Bic pens with leaked ink in some drawer
• You like reading tips about cleaning and storage
• You want to have a more minimalistic space

The Life-Changing Manga of Tidying Up: A Magical Story by Marie Kondō.

Paperback. 182 pages. Published July 4th 2017 by Ten Speed Press.

I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review. Thank you! I was actually going to buy it myself, hehe. It was really useful, inspiring and cute! I wish it was available in Spanish so I could get one for my little sister.

Let me know if you read it and what you thought about it!

The post The Life-Changing Manga of Tidying Up Review (yes, there is a manga!) appeared first on Pretty Geekery.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this new review format! Here are some books I read last month and wanted to talk about:

So Much I Want to Tell You: Letters to My Little Sister

The post MINI BOOK REVIEWS! appeared first on Pretty Geekery.

In case you didn’t know, The Crowns of Croswald is a middle grade fantasy book (to be a book series) about a magical boarding school and a scullery maid that dreams of attending. Of course, she is chosen to attend when she turns 16. And she discovers that there’s always been magic inside of her. The end. 

Well, that’s not really the end. First she has to learn about her past (because she’s an orphan, obviously), about her magical abilities (which are really interesting) and about her life in the magical school (a super whimsical and fantastic place).

This has to be the most ambivalent review I ever wrote, because I can’t make my mind about it. On one hand I liked the world building and main plot points, on the other hand, I disliked the poor character development and the trite “chosen-one orphan with hidden powerful magic, something, something, prophecy” trope.

So here are my main pros and cons, I hope you find them useful!

And many thanks to the author D. E. Night for sending me this book in exchange of an unboxing. 

A different take on the magical boarding school. The Halls of Ivy is a school for princesses and scrivenists. The former will learn about the power contained in the gems adorning their crowns (hence the title of the book), and the latter to cast spells with their quills and magical inks. I really liked the idea of princesses in puffy dresses attending a magical school, it’s too cute! Also, that the scrivenists don’t use magic wands, but their quills! They are avid readers and love to learn, so after graduating they can work for a royal family while practicing their skills (similar to the Maesters in Game of Thrones).

I’ve seen this book compared to Harry Potter since it has the same “orphan goes to a magical school” plot. But I think the author managed to make The Halls of Ivy its own unique thing. Apart from the crowns and quills, the school is full of whimsical surprises that I loved reading about. From the teachers to the different rooms and magical creatures (like the hairies, little bright fairies with long hair that are used as lanterns), everything in the school had its quirks and charm.

There’s a curse and a really well kept secret (literally). And I’m obviously keeping the secret to myself since I don’t want to spoil anyone! But my favorite part of the plot is that people, things and events can be magically hidden or forgotten, so a big part of the mystery is finding the -literally- missing pieces.

The characters. All the characters. I’ll start with the thing that bothered me the most through the book: the protagonist. Ivy is supposed to be 16 years old but in no way she resembled a teenager. She was too childish and naive! I often mistook her for a 10 year old and I think her lack of personality also contributed to this. We don’t really get to learn a lot about her. In the first chapter we see her taking care of a sick dragon and reading books, so we assume she’s caring and curious. But that’s it. There’s no more development after that.

Also, the secondary characters weren’t developed either. She’s friends with a princess from her class that doesn’t seem to have her own personality, so her relationship with Ivy feels very bland.  There’s also a “cute” guy that only appears to save the day when Ivy is in trouble (like Tuxedo Mask). There are also some teachers, the Dark Queen and The Selector. They seem so interesting at first! Sadly the book doesn’t focus on developing these characters, so they end up being one-dimensional people. It would be cool to get to know them better in the sequels, though I’m still not sure if I’ll continue reading this series.

It feels too Middle Grade-ish. And I know this book is aimed at middle grade readers, but it still disappointed me. I could clearly see that the main audience would be 8-12 year old kids because the plot would bee too simple and probably predictable for older readers. Most of the time there’s no need to guess or make your own theories because all the hints are thrown in your face.

We are often told that things happened instead of reading about the things happening. I would have liked to see Ivy getting better at school and learning new spells, but instead I had to read lines like “Some weeks passed and Ivy got better at school” without getting to see any of it. It also has characters with BIG lines of dialogue, so instead of normal conversations between people it feels like they have mini monologues to make sure we get the intended message.

Again, I understand that a story for younger readers doesn’t need to be so complex, but I wish it had a little bit of complexity. Especially because there’s an interesting secret in the plot going on but the mystery didn’t last long. 

• You’re between the ages of 8-12
• You enjoy middle grade books with simple plots
• You love magical boarding schools and whimsical worlds
• You prefer world-building instead of character development

The post The Crowns of Croswald Review (Ambivalent Feelings) appeared first on Pretty Geekery.

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo is a YA fantasy novel about assembling a team of dangerous people and breaking into a high security prison. And why would they do that? Because someone is paying a LOT of money. And a group of thugs, witches and thieves sounded like the right answer.

I was so, so excited with the description of this book. And even now, after reading it and not liking it, I feel like it sounds so cool that I want to like it. Does that ever happen to you?

Forget the hype. I genuinely want to like Six of Crows because while I was reading it and someone asked me what I was reading, I explained it to them and it sounded like the coolest book ever. It also looks like he coolest book ever. With those black stained paged and artistic cover…

But, oh well. The bookish life is cruel like this sometimes.

I’ll change things up a bit because this book deserves it. I’ll start with the things I didn’t like.

*Cue the review that will make me lose a hundred readers*

All the characters are “OH, TOO PRECIOUS FOR THIS WORLD”. Seriously. Most fans loved this book because of the characters, and I respect (and actually understand) their opinions. But I kinda feel like Bardugo sat down and started listing every cliche in the history of YA, then she picked up the traits people seem to love the most and distributed them into 6 different characters. That way she made them all special and relatable (and most people on Tumblr will have a crush on at least one of them).

Allow me to delve into the subject of the “precious characters”:

• We have Kaz: The leader of the gang. He’s a suave criminal and also has a tortured soul. He’s supposed to be a reckless monster but in real like everyone wants to hug him.
• Inej: A precious cinnamon roll of a girl who is also the greatest assassin (at sixteen). Everyone wants to hug her.
• Jesper: He likes guns and is the greatest gunslinger. He’s the comic relief and ship-able with another male character.
• Nina: She’s a badass witch and also really attractive. Also has a tortured soul. Her love for cake makes her so relatable that everyone wants to hug her.
• Matthias: He’s a walking German stereotype. Also seems to have feelings for a female character. He’s kind of bland but his crush on a girl seems to redeem his character.
• Waylan: He just exists so people can ship him with another male character. He’s the only one without a POV in this book. I guess some people want to hug him too.

 See what I mean? To me they didn’t feel like real people with special traits. They’re more like caricatures of what they’re supposed to represent. Kind of like Care Bears or My Little Pony characters, since all of them have a personality that revolves around a prominent trait (a.k.a. cutie mark). Also, bonus dislike-points for having 6 main characters and hinting at 3 romantic couples.

Extra also, these are all teenagers around 16-17 with the personalities and skills of people in their late twenties.

The pacing was too slow for a heist story. It took me two tries to finish this book. The first time I dropped it at 100 pages and couldn’t keep reading because instead of the theft planning I expected, I was being bombarded with backstories for characters I didn’t care about. I don’t mind flashbacks if  they’re interesting and add to the story. But in this book they felt like the author didn’t know the “Show, don’t tell” rule. So instead of showing us a character’s motivations trough the story, she just added 1000 flashbacks.

This was a main problem for me because I felt like the book kept dragging and dragging, trying to make me care about these characters by showing me their sob stories. It dragged so much that the actual heist (the one impossible task mentioned in the cover of the book) doesn’t start until page ~270. By that point I already felt like the book was too long as wasn’t that excited about the heist. 

I would have liked to read about the heist – or maybe another similar mission – at the beginning of the book, and whatever the

outcome, I would have wanted to know more about these characters that completed (or tried the complete) the big theft. But NOPE. I spent two-thirds of the book reading about these 6 guys with incredibly badass reputations, so when I read the last third I wasn’t on the edge of my seat or anything. 

It’s an interesting fantasy world. I love it when fantasy books have real world problems. In the Six of Crows universe (I believe it’s called the Grisha Universe since this is a spin-off series of the Grisha Trilogy) there are people with magical abilities. They’re called Grisha and they can do a lot of cool things like manipulate materials, elements or human bodies. The real world problem is that some people fear the Grisha because of their power, others hate them because of it and some others try to exploit them. The plot of this book revolves around how far some people go to get some of that power.

I found it interesting and would actually like to read more about the political ideologies in this world. It felt a little to close to the real wars, hate and racism in our world.

It’s a heist book! I love theft/heist/suicide mission stories as much as the next person. And this one has to do with assembling a team of misfits and getting into a high security prison. What’s not to love? (Apart from the things in my Dislike list).

The actual mission unfolds almost at the end of the book, but it’s still fun to read and has a good dose of things that go wrong.

• You love character-driven stories
• You don’t mind it if the action starts late into the book
• You read with the main purpose of shipping characters
• When you read about a character with a tortured soul you want to hug them

The post Six of Crows Review (I’m sorry I didn’t like it) appeared first on Pretty Geekery.

This is my Eliza and Her Monsters Review without spoilers

So, I just read one of my favorite books of the year.

I don’t want to create a lot of hype because part of my love for this book comes from my personal experiences. But as someone who’s not the biggest YA Contemporary fan, I AM IN LOVE.

Eliza and Her Monsters by Francesca Zappia is a novel about a teenage girl, Eliza, who is secretly the author of an internet famous comic called Monstrous Sea. Eliza loves drawing and writing her stories, but keeps her identity a secret to live a quieter life. She also has social anxiety, so her closer friends are people she met on the internet. UNTIL… she discovers that the new guy at her school is a Monstrous Sea fan (she catches him writing fanfic!). And this guy, Wallace, slowly convinces her to spend more time offline and make new friends. And she starts to like it, but she’s not sure about sharing her online identity with her new friends. But don’t worry, people will find out and drama will ensue.

What I liked

• Eliza and Wallace are great characters.

Also Eliza’s mom.

These three characters felt like real people with their own thoughts and emotions. Even though the book was told from Eliza’s perspective, you can see the other characters go on with their lives and have their own untold plots moving all the time. Wallace is more present so we can see him developing feelings and being more comfortable with Eliza as the months pass.

Eliza’s mom is a secondary character, but she’s always in the background doing something. As the story progresses, she starts getting more worried about her daughter’s mental health, and we can see her trying harder each time to help her.

Click the image if you want to buy it on Amazon. I get a small commission this way :D!

I loved how most of the characters grow or learn something, even if they spend most of the time in the background.

As for why I liked Eliza’s character, read the next paragraph.

• A realistic portrayal of anxiety and mental illness. 

I think Eliza’s struggles with anxiety are a great example of what it feels like dealing with it in real life, which can be enlightening for someone who hasn’t been through the same things.

But more importantly, it made ME feel understood. This introvert protagonist dealing with anxiety was so real and so relatable. And I don’t mean it in a “YAAAS, gurl, I get you” kind of way. But in a “Thank you for the validation, I’m so glad I’m not alone and my feelings are being acknowledged” way.

There’s a line somewhere in the book when Eliza says “I want to be happy”. And say what you will, it might be cheesy or trite or whatever. But that single line made me cry at how real it felt. This book deals with anxiety, depression, suicidal thoughts and traumatic experiences and it does it incredibly well.

• A look into the “fandom” life.

I just started reading contemporary books last year, so I’m not sure how often they portray geeky or nerdy interests. But it was really cool reading about characters that are into books and comics and things from the internet. I haven’t read a lot of that!

And Eliza’s friends are not casual fans, they write fanfiction, draw fanart (sometimes the spicy kind), have heated discussions in the fan forums and dress up as their favorite fictional characters.

(Is the Harry Potter fandom having flashbacks right now?? Because I am).

What I disliked

• This is not something “I disliked”, because I liked everything about this book.

It’s more of a ‘What I didn’t love’. And that is the Monstrous Sea comic. Through the book there are a few comic pages scattered in the middle of some chapters. These are part of the Monstrous Sea comic that Eliza is drawing.

And I thought the idea was really cool, because you read that Eliza has been drawing a monster, and then you get to see the drawing (Sometimes. There is like 1 comic page every 2 chapters). The thing I didn’t like that much is that the comic wasn’t that good. This story is supposed to be REALLY famous, to the point that people cosplay as the characters all the time and some of them get tattoos of the most famous quotes.

But it took a lot of effort to believe in this, because for me Monstrous Sea wasn’t that great. The drawings and the story (at least what we get to see) feel more like fanart or fanfic. Also, there’s this quote that is mentioned all the time: “There are monsters in the sea“. The comic fans love this quote and get tattoos with it and write it everywhere. And it might be silly, but I didn’t get why someone would love that quote.

I get why people love “Not all those who wander are lost” or “To the stars who listen. And the dreams that are answered” or the simple “Always“. Because these quotes are part of a story they love AND ALSO the quote alone has a deeper meaning. But “There are monsters in the sea” sounds a little bland to me.

So, yeah, I’m sorry for nit-picking. I had to do it because I loved everything else in the book.

You should read it if:

• You want to read a story that deals with mental illness in a realistic way
• You’re an artist (or you love to draw, write or make art. Like an artist).
• You like YA contemporary books with introverted protagonists

The post Eliza and Her Monsters Review appeared first on Pretty Geekery.

I wish someone had told me that, I would have read it years ago!

But let me be more clear. The Phantom of the Opera might be considered a romance, if you consider unhealthy relationships romantic.*

I personally would classify it as a Mystery/Gothic novel. It kind if reminded me of Frankenstein, because of the dark plot, dramatic characters and the ugly misunderstood villain. Also the permanent sense that something is about to go very wrong.

Overall, I think it was a fun experience, even if it takes time to get to the fun parts. I also disliked all the characters, but I think that works well for this book. I was there just for the mystery and drama, anyway.

*I might be exaggerating a bit for the sake of comedy, but I do believe that this novel’s genre is not “Romance”.

The Phantom of the Opera tells the story of an opera house haunted by a mysterious man with a dead’s head. It is not clear to anyone whether the Opera Ghost is a real apparition or just a disfigured, wretched man who lives inside the opera. The narrator of the book, an investigator who apparently interviewed most of the characters, tells us that everything we are reading is real, and provides letters and transcriptions to tell the whole story (I found that really cool).

First we get to know Christine Daaé, a soprano singer who has been receiving lessons from an “Angel of music”. This Angel is such a great teacher that the first night Christine sings in a leading role ends in astonishing success. She sings so beautifully that one of her childhood friends, Raoul de Changy, who was listening in the public, suddenly recalls his undying love for her.

Raoul tries to get in touch with Christine after the show, and she rejects him. But he feels entitled to her love, so he keeps trying to be with her and follows her, and that’s when he discovers that she might be rejecting him because someone is forcing her.

Christine also sends Raoul mixed messages. Sometimes she accepts his romantic gestures, sometimes she ignores him. She is scared because her Angel of music is starting to sound really jealous. And at the same time, the Opera Ghost is getting angrier.

And I won’t say much about the ghost because it’s more fun if you read the book. But he’s an ugly ghost, not like in the musical/movie. And he’s not nice at all.

1. You are a fan of Gothic/horror novels: If you are into Gothic novels, I’m pretty sure you will like this one. If you’re a horror fan, you might find it a bit boring at first (there’s not a lot of action in the first 1/3 of the book), but it pays off at the end.
2. You like Frankenstein: I love Frankenstein and since I read it a couple of years ago I hadn’t found similar books, until this one. It has a similar atmosphere and characters (especially the ugly misunderstood villain). 
3. You want to read more classics to get the references: A few months ago I got Roseblood by A.G. Howard, a YA novel that is also a retelling of The Phantom. And I really wanted to read the original first so I could get all the references and enjoy it more!

The post Revisiting the classics: The Phantom of the Opera appeared first on Pretty Geekery.

I don’t know why this book got so much love.

Could it be because we don’t see many books with homosexual protagonists? Or is it because of the funny names and the ridiculously long title?

Anyway, 
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz is a coming of age story starring a mexican-american version of Holden Caufield named Aristotle -or Ari for short-. Ari is angry at his family because they pretend his older brother who’s in prison doesn’t exist. He’s also kind of a loner, until he meets Dante, a charming know-it-all who teaches him how to swim. And the rest of the story is just them getting to know each other and being teenage boys. 

That’s all.

I think this is the book with the smallest amount of things happening on it I’ve ever read. 

• 

  Click the image if you want to buy it on Amazon. (I get a small commission this way :D!)

  It can be relatable, especially for minorities in the U.S. Dante, just like Ari, is a mexican-american teenage boy in the US, and I  enjoyed reading about him struggling with his ethnicity (also, being Mexican myself and living between Mexico and the US, I found his dilemma really interesting.) He’s also gay and loved and supported by his parents. Ari is also kind of relatable but in a way that feels like cheating, because his role is basically the same old “angsty misunderstood teenager”. I mean, everyone’s felt lonely or inadequate at some point in their lives. 

• Interesting Family Dynamic. It is not something we see a lot, considering most parents in YA books tend to be absent or dead. Exploring Ari’s and Dante’s families was an interesting reading experience, and something I’d like to see more of. 

• The narrator of the audiobook. I’m pretty sure I was able to finish this book only because I listened to it rather than read it, so I could listen while washing dishes or doing other chores. The audiobook was wonderfully narrated by Lin-Manuel Miranda. I think he made a great job with the voices for each character and I guess having Puerto Rican family helped with the few Spanish lines through the novel.  

• Dante was the worst. I liked Dante at first because he was sweet and smart and supportive. But through the book he got more and more ‘unique’. He was not only a sweet boy, he was a Manic Pixie Dream Boy. He read poetry out loud and hated putting on shoes and swore he would discover all the secrets of the universe. I don’t know. I think his personality got really quirky, and he also became really pushy about his infatuation with a friend. And I hated that! (If you think it doesn’t sound as bad because they were two guys, imagine if one of them was a guy and the other a girl?? And the guy kept pushing the girl, telling her how much he wants to kiss her, even though she said she’s not interested. THAT’S WEIRD, HUH?).

• It doesn’t have a plot. This is my main problem with this book. I FOUND IT TOO BORING. It had at least five chapters of Ari just going to school and having a job, without nothing else happening! Nothing at all. And it has some characters in the background that seem like they are going to have a role in the story, but they don’t. It’s just Ari and Dante and their parents. All the other characters are there to fill blank spaces. And as I said, the book is a coming of age story AND NOTHING MORE.

• It was full of kinda-pretentious, kinda-unrealistic lines. You know the style I’m talking about. The kind of philosophical phrases that teenagers throw at each other only in YA books. I’m not a fan of poetic speech. At all. I also disliked the weird and repetitive conversations between Ari and Dante that mostly went like this:

We both smiled, then laughed.
“You’re a bad boy,” I said.
“You’re a bad boy too.”
“Just what we’ve always wanted to be.”
“If our parents knew,” I said.
“If our parents knew,” he said.
We laughed.

• The ending. This paragraph will contain spoilers. JUMP TO THE ”YOU SHOULD READ IT IF” PART IF YOU DON’T WANT ME TO SPOIL THE END. The ending bothered me SO MUCH. So, through the book Ari struggles because he finds it really hard to show his feelings to someone else. But in the end, it seems like he doesn’t even know his OWN feelings. Why, you ask? Because his parents gave him a talk and told him “Ari, we think you’re gay and you’re in love with Dante”. And he was like “Umm, no. I like this girl at school”. And his parents were like “But last year Dante was about to die and you saved him, so you’re obviously gay for him”. (That’s not the actual dialogue, but my accurate representation). This ending bothered me because: A) Friendship exists! There are many reasons why someone would save a friend’s life if the situation permitted it. Not all of them involve being in love with said friend. And B) I think Ari would have known, or at least the reader would have noticed, if he really had romantic feelings towards his friend. Having his parents tell him he was gay (and in a way, telling YOU, the reader) was a weird way of ending the story. Also, in coming of age stories the characters normally discover things by themselves, without their parents telling them the answers.

• You are looking for a YA book that represents minorities
• You like John Green’s books
• You want to listen to Lin-Manuel Miranda narrating an audiobook
• You want to read a light coming of age story 

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