Once again, I tried to read some books and they didn’t work for me! You are more than welcome to pick the books up, as our tastes might not be the same. Maybe you feel the same way as I did, maybe you really like it!
Disclaimer: I received these e-arcs through Netgalley or Edelweiss and the publishers in exchange for free and honest reviews. The featured image is my own. The summaries are taken from Goodreads. All opinions expressed are my own.
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itle: I Am Margaret Moore
Author: Hannah Capin
Year Published: 2022
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Cover Art/Designer: Olga Grlic
Genre: Young Adult ~ Paranormal ~ Mystery ~ Thriller
Stars: did not finish at 24%
Links: Goodreads || The Storygraph
Copy: E-arc (Netgalley)
CW/TW: (Taken from The Storygraph) Body horror, Bullying, Sexism, Toxic relationship, and more
Lyrical and haunting, Hannah Capin’s I Am Margaret Moore is a paranormal thriller that tests the hold of sisterhood and truth.
I am a girl. I am a monster, too.
Each summer the girls of Deck Five come back to Marshall Naval School. They sail on jewel-blue waters; they march on green drill-fields; they earn sunburns and honors. They push until they break apart and heal again, stronger.
Each summer Margaret and Rose and Flor and Nisreen come back to the place where they are girls, safe away from the world: sisters bound by something more than blood.
But this summer everything has changed. Girls are missing and a boy is dead. It’s because of Margaret Moore, the boys say. It’s because of what happened that night in the storm.
Margaret’s friends vanish one by one, swallowed up into the lies she has told about what happened between her and a boy with the world at his feet. Can she unravel the secrets of this summer and last, or will she be pulled under by the place she once called home?
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I read some spoilery reviews, mostly to see what the paranormal aspect of the book was. I wasn’t really impressed by it and showed me I was right not to carry on. I chose not to finish early on since I wasn’t able to get into the verse style of writing. I’m totally fine with a book in verse, I just couldn’t get into this one.
Another reason was definitely the characters. I didn’t like Margaret at all. Found her boring as anything. Her friends were a bit more interesting but once again, not enough to keep me reading.
I was annoyed by the fact that we barely see any hint of any type of paranormal activity and I checked the reviews and some said it only appears quite far into the book and even then barely. Quite disappointing.
While I did like the lyrical parts and it could be soothing at times, it could also be a bit boring. The book felt like it was pushing the naval camp as this elite thing and that was also very boring for me.
Title: Down Comes the Night
Author: Alison Saft
Year Published: 2021
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Cover Art/Designer: Olga Grlic
Genre: Young Adult ~ Romance ~ Gothic ~ Fantasy ~ LGBTQ+ characters
Stars: did not finish at 40%
Links: Goodreads || The Storygraph
Copy: E-arc (Netgalley)
CW/TW: (Taken from The Storygraph) Medical content, blood, death, gore, violence, murder, among others)
A gorgeously gothic, deeply romantic YA debut fantasy about two enemies trapped inside a crumbling mansion, with no escape from the monsters within. Honor your oath, destroy your country.
Wren Southerland is the most talented healer in the Queen’s Guard, but her reckless actions have repeatedly put her on thin ice with her superiors. So when a letter arrives from a reclusive lord, asking Wren to come to his estate to cure his servant from a mysterious disease, she seizes the chance to prove herself.
When she arrives at Colwick Hall, Wren realizes that nothing is what it seems. Particularly when she discovers her patient is actually Hal Cavendish, the sworn enemy of her kingdom.
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I was reading by Chapter 12 and told myself that if, by Chapter 15, I’m still not interested, we’re marking it as dnf. And so I reached Chapter 15, and I still wasn’t interested.
I usually know early on if I’m not going to enjoy a book or possibly mark it as did-not-finish if the characters aren’t working for me. Either I don’t like the way they speak, the way they treat others. I also dnf early on if I don’t like the narration or if the 1st POV just doesn’t work for me. With this book it was the main character. Wren. I didn’t like her character early. I couldn’t get myself to care for what she cared for, get angry at what she was angry at. If she was interested in something, I could not get myself interested in it.
I also didn’t like the way magic and the magic system/rules were written into the book. I don’t know if there were any other magic other than healing and destructive magic. From what I read, healing magic was only to be used either in the military or in the clergy. I didn’t like that they force you into one of two roles in order for you to use magic. What’s the penalty if they catch you using magic and you’re not in the army or a nun? They kill you? That’s even more restrictive.
I liked Hal enough to try to reading (at least until 40%) but his personality didn’t shine enough to intrigue me. The plot played a disappointing factor as well. I was sort of interested in carrying on to see what the plot would shape into and how the characters played a role in it, but ultimately, it couldn’t give me the boost to carry on.
Title: Love at the Edge of Seventeen
Author: Edited by Cara McKinnnon
Year Published: 2018
Publisher: Stars and Stone Books
Cover Art/Designer: Stars and Stone Books
Genre: Young Adult ~ Anthology ~ Romance
Stars: did not finish
Links: Goodreads || The Storygraph
Copy: E-arc (Netgalley)
Featuring: M.T. DeSantis, A.E. Hayes, Serena Jayne, Cara McKinnon, Mary Rogers, and Kylie Weisenborn.
It’s never easy to go through the fraught transition into adulthood, but the teens in this short story anthology have more to deal with than most: super powers, magic, illness, and prejudice against sexual orientation and gender identity. Fortunately, they all find love at the edge of seventeen.
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I really like anthologies but this one definitely missed the mark by a lot. I didn’t like any of the stories, I found myself flipping through a lot of them and decided to dnf it early and just barely skim some of the stories.
It was quite boring. All of the stories. They needed a lot of work. If I managed to finish the book I’d probably rate it a full 1 star out of 5. Maybe 2 if I were feeling generous.
If I choose to dnf a book, it’s for a good reason. I could force myself to finish it and rate it 2 or 3 stars; but instead I chose to let go of it and focus on another book. And that’s the beauty of books and reading tastes – you might like something I didn’t, I might dislike something you love, it’s all good
But anyway! Tell me if you’ve read one of these books! Or if you’re planning to read any. Or just anything!
DB's Guide to the Galaxy 