Book Review: The Midwich Cuckoos

The Midwich Cuckoos. Written by John Wyndham.

I really wanted to like this book. It was in my christmas bag, which is put together by our school librarians. It was labelled a classic and did not look anything like what I would choose myself. For all those reasons I really wanted to get into it.

I feel like I gave a solid attempt. I read the first 50 pages. (of about 200 – so a quarter). I really struggled with the huge amount of detail in the writing. Which was great, except for me there was not enough hook to allow for that level of detail. The detail felt like it outweighed the plot.

So alas I did not finish. Not everybook is for everyone and unfortunately this one was not for me.

Mrs K

Genre: Science Fiction, Speculative fiction, classic, 

Book Review: My Not So Perfect Life

My Not so Perfect Life. Written by Sophie Kinsella

This was the perfect book to begin the new year with. I legitimately laughed out loud. I also was that annoying person who kept reading out bits for other people to enjoy my book.

This book was light, but also had some very serious undertones, which I think were very poignant in the social media age. The ideas of conformity, and belonging, as well as fitting in and not necessarily living up to the Jones’ are more and more important in todays instagram world. Where everything that everyone else says or does seems perfect, because we are living with the highlights reel rather than the reality.

I also think the book contained important messages around it being ok if your life does not turn out quite like you planned. But also that things can change at any moment.

This book dealt with some serious issues, and while Like I said it was laugh out loud funny, that does not mean everything in the book was at that level.

It reminded me a bit of the book of Eleanor opilent, or a Marion Keyes novel. I highly recommend this to all millenials who enjoy a light read.

Mrs K

Genre: Contemporary, Novel, Fiction, Chick Lit, Romance

 

2019 Reading Round Up

80 Books read this year by my count. (Assuming I did remember to blog about each of them) That also does not include any books which I re-read as I don’t track that – but I know there were at least five. I feel a little disappointed that  I did not make 100, but I know given I work full time and do a multitude of other things in my free time that it is not a bad effort!!

So top five books of the year??

1. Archangel’s series. Nalini Singh
2. Psy-Changeling series. Nalini Singh
3. Three dark Crowns
4. Daughter of Smoke and Bone
5. The weight of a thousand feathers
6. Scythe
7. The house with chicken Legs.

So turns out that choosing just Five was beyond my capabilities! Lucky I am an English teacher and not a maths teacher huh!

I have continued to largely read adolescent fiction, many of which I have introduced to my students, or tried to buy into the department as well. ALthough not all of my books have been that way. Nalini Singh – being a massive example there.

I can’t wait to see what I read in 2020 – and I have a list of series that have sequels coming out this year.

Mrs K

Review: True Colours

True Colours. Written by Kristin Hannah.

Finished reading: 31st December 2019

So Kristin Hannah is one of my total guilty pleasure authors. I devour any new book of hers I find. (But interestingly don’t often go searching for them.) This one fit all the boxes. I cried multiple times. So much so my 9 year old daughter was very distressed about why I was so upset.

This book focuses on sisters. Three sisters who all fit into those stereotypical boxes that sisters are always put into. “The responsible one” “The irresponsible one” the youngest, the middle child etc. As the oldest of three sisters I could definitely feel this book on that level. These sisters had also lost their mother – so I also felt that.

The sisters have a strong bond, which gets tested, as sisterly bonds often do through a relationship, and family disappoval. This is heightened with the success of a family business and a very gruff father.

I liked that although the book focused on one major relationship between one of the sisters, it was a book about sisters, and about learning to look out for and trust one another.

The book skipped large chunks of time, which normally really annoys me, but in this case it allowed for us to see the whole story play out without the book being thousands of pages long. Hannah does well to break the story in the right places, and allow us glimpses of each time period without bogging us down with any details we have missed.

Overall this was a fantastic book. It was sweet and heartwarming, which on the last day of the year, curled up on a beach in the corromandel was just what I needed.

Mrs K

Genre: Romance, Chick Lit, Contemporary

Review: Ash Princess & Lady Smoke

Ash Princess & Lady Smoke Written by Laura Sebastian.

Finished reading 30 December 2019

I am going to review them together as I read them back to back. I was so stoked upon finishing Ash Princess to realise that I also had the second book and could stay in the world.

Laura Sebastian talks about how she writes books that usually feature strong women or girls in all kind of ways. This is so accurate, and was probably what I really liked about this book. Theo, the main character in the series has been a captive for ten years. What I like though is that you continue to see her spine. She is not a mere captive, she is determined to keep her personality. Later in the book as the action amps up, men take an active part in the action, but she does not surrender her power to them at any point. She uses them as a sounding board, and certainly listens to all their ideas but does not let them overpower her. I think this is so important as so regularly there are strong female characters who often still get overshadowed by male ones – especially when they are in a relationship.

I really liked the discovery of the world through Theo’s eyes. I also really like through both books the development of Theo’s character and the realisation about what her mother was really like. I think this is something that we encounter a lot in the real world – the idea of growing up with people that we put on pedestals who then do not always live up to the reality of this hype we have given them. How do we balance who they were in our eyes versus who they really are, and still hold a healthy sense of admiration for them? This is certainly an issue that Theo struggles with, and one which I think she deals with very well.

As with any good book this one also kept me on the edge of my seat, with several twists that I totally did not expect. I am also excited for book three of this series!

I will leave it there, as I worry I could gush all day. Definitely have a read. Again like the last book it had the real risk of running into the cliche with so many YA fantasy books looking at queens and rulers, but this one also stood out to me.

Mrs K

Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult, Magic, Romance, Speculative Fiction, Teen

Review: Three Dark Crowns

Three Dark Crowns. Written by Kendare Blake

Finished – 22 December 2019

I LOVED THIS BOOK. I feel like I have read a lot of books this summer that I really enjoyed but this one is probably right at the top. (I say probably because I never actually like to commit!) This is the book that has caused me to want to read all the other books I had so that I can read the sequels. I am actually excited for them.

I did not expect much from this book. There is such an influx of YA fantasy at teh moment about crowns, and fighting to be queen, or being the actual queen and not being allowed etc. That I thought this would just be another one that fell into the gaps of ‘meh books’. Boy was I wrong. The premise in this book is quite different to begin with. The idea of triplets with three different powers being seperated and raised by their seperate factions, each knowing ultimately only one of them can be queen is quite different and

 says a lot about the people involved.

Then secondly the twists in this novel really kept me guessing and engaged. At the start it seemed very clear set, but this changed dramatically as the book continued, and then the ending was absolutely outstanding. I really cannot wait to read the rest. Which in itself says something as often I feel a bit annoyed that writers try to make a trilogy purely for the sake of it,  this felt far more like there was an actual plan.

As well as the engaging plot and characters, I also really liked that there felt like there were deeper themes, about nature vs nurture, and also what it means to be sisters, and even what it means to be powerful.

Honestly, if you like YA fantasy – then I cannot recommend this book enough!

Mrs K

Genre: Fantasy, Magic, Young Adult,