I love taking a look at a book cover and description and then coming up with my own idea of what the book will be about. Sometimes I’m right, sometimes I’m so wrong it’s almost funny. So I’ve decided to write about my first, middle, and last impressions of each book I read, as well as a little bit on why I wanted to read it because sometimes, when I’ve finished, I really can’t remember.
The first impression is based solely on the cover and description. What do I think it will be about?
The middle impression is kind of a check-in on how the story is going about halfway through.
The last impression is my final thoughts on the book, what I’m left thinking.
I hope you have as much fun with this as I will!
Spells for Forgetting by Adrienne Young – Fantasy, Mystery, Romance
Why I want to read this: I’ve seen so many good reviews for her YA books, so I thought that, since she has an adult novel coming out, I’d give her a try.
First Impression: So, the description sounds like a version of the story that played out in In the Shadow Garden by Liz Parker, which I just finished last week, so this will be interesting, and hopefully without all the alcohol. With romance, magic, and mystery, this should be a magical reading experience.
Middle Impression: This is incredibly atmospheric and perfectly autumnal. There’s a love story wrapped in a mystery, but I’m finding myself missing the mystery part of this book, and I’m not finding the flashbacks to be particularly interesting. But my biggest problem right now is I’m having a hard time believing Emery and August are in their 30s.
Last Impression: So there are actually 2 mysteries, and they get solved at breakneck speed at the end of the book. Unfortunately, I figured both out before the mystery part of this book finally took off. Most of this is about the love story between Emery and August. Overall, I was disappointed in this book. It had some good elements, but I found too many holes.
The City Beneath the Hidden Stars by Sonya Kudei – Fantasy
Why I want to read this: I don’t actually remember. I think I saw it involves the mythology and history of Croatia, which isn’t something I’ve read before, so that might be why I wanted to read this.
First Impression: I think this will be interesting, but potentially confusing as it involves an actual city and then lays a fantasy story on top with someone coming from the stars.
Middle Impression: This has more of a YA feel to it, which is kind of bothering me. Two of the main characters are adult men and one of them is a female child in the primary grades, so I guess the author went with a middle of the road feel and landed on YA even though this is supposed to be an adult fantasy novel? There’s some interesting humor, but something about this book is starting to rub me the wrong way. There are also some tedious, pedestrian scenes that don’t seem to add anything.
Last Impression: Thank goodness it’s over! This is actually a pretty simplistic story: stop the Black Queen, but made much more complicated by three characters who don’t really have too much to do with each other as they act on stopping her from coming back to our world in three different places. Everything, though, was just too easy and everyone was always saved just in the nick of time, so there was no real tension. Until the horror elements at the end that started giving me images I really didn’t want to see.
The Prophet Paradox by Danny Tuttle – Fiction
Why I want to read this: Well, this isn’t something I would ever actually pick up, but I’m doing review requests a little differently, opening up for more authors to have an opportunity to get a review from me and opening myself up to more books out there. I’m trying not to regret this.
First Impression: Well, I have no clue. It looks like this is trying to combine science and religion, neither of which I know much about since I don’t consider myself to be either a scientist or religious, so I figure most of this book will be over my head and I’m just here for the ride.
Middle Impression: There are multiple POVs. Seriously, multiple, multiple POVs. I’m starting to have a hard time tracking them and putting them into a story that makes sense. But this seems to follow two primary characters: Biblical scholar Anne and physicist Max. But it’s so spread out and these two only meet once, so I’m having a hard time trying to figure what, exactly, is going on and how they might be related beyond one instance of coincidence (that the entire world then takes and runs away with). I do like the diversity, but accents were written into the dialogue and I can’t figure out what some of the characters are actually saying half the time. There’s also a definite emphasis on the religious aspect, making one of the characters someone I’d like very much to strangle.
Current Progress: 87%. I’m so close to the end, and I cannot wait. This is far too Biblical to me and the story just feels all over the place, like the author decided to throw the kitchen sink at it, and the main characters really don’t have any real sense of agency thanks to a story that keeps jerking them all over the place. But what’s really bothering me is the treatment of some of the women. They’re objectified to the point where they feel like actual objects and not like complex women with complex feelings and thoughts. Not exactly something this female reader wants to read or appreciates.
After some disappointing reads over the past 2 weeks, I’m certainly hoping the next book I pick up is enjoyable!
What about you?
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I’m starting Spell for forgetting tomorrow or maybe on Friday. It sounds really good.
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I hope you’re enjoying it! While it wasn’t for me, I can’t deny it does a lot really, really well. I’ll never get some of the images of the island and the emotions all the characters must have been feeling out of my head. I look forward to reading your thoughts on it. Happy reading!
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