Daniel Deronda Review

Daniel Deronda by George Eliot is a classic novel. It follows two people: Daniel Deronda, a young man raised as the ward of a wealthy British aristocrat with no knowledge of his heritage and Gwendolen Harleth, a beautiful yet poor young woman determined to get all she wants out of life. We follow them on both of their searches, where their path’s cross and the effect they have on each other’s lives. 

I gave this book 4.5 out of 5 stars. As expected, the writing style and quality were lovely. There is something about these classic works that is noticeable in the very way they are written and I find it quite enjoyable to read. The only thing I didn’t like was the quotes before every chapter; they felt jarring and pulled me away from the story, instead of adding to it (especially when in a foreign language).

The characters were fascinating. Some you dislike (and like to dislike them), others draw your sympathy, and still more are so heartwarming and wonderful. I can’t possibly go through all the characters and tell you what they made me feel, but my feelings about them were so diverse that it enhanced my pleasure in reading about them. I also really enjoyed the growth we got to see and how they responded to all they went through.

The story line dragged at the beginning, especially since it focused on Gwendolen (who I don’t like). We don’t really get to see Daniel until chapter 14, but that is where my interest really picked up and I began to truly enjoy it. The pacing wasn’t the best, it sped up and slowed down a bit, but thankfully it wasn’t too extreme or I would have DNFed the book. Overall, I loved the story with the redemption arc and the soul searching and the characters figuring out who they are and what they want to do with their lives.

Overall, a simply lovely read and it makes me want to read more by Eliot. Maybe I will get to one of her other works soon.

Side note: If you didn’t know and / or it interests you, George Eliot is the pen-name for Mary Ann Evans

April Overview

This month I decided to do the OWL’s readathon and had a blast. Overall, it was quite a heavy reading month for me and I have enjoyed every minute.

OWL’s readathon:

Ancient Runes - The Warrior Maiden by Melanie Dickerson (Christian historical)

Arithmancy – All the Stars Look Down by Grace Draven and Elizabeth Hunter (fantasy)

Astronomy – The Fox and the Star by Coralie Bickford-Smith (children)

Care of Magical Creatures – Two Shy Pandas by Julia Jarman (children)

Charms – One True Loves by Taylor Jenkens Reid (contemporary)

Defense Against the Dark Arts - Raven Flight by Juliet Marillier (fantasy)

Divination - Anomaly by Krista McGee (Christian dystopian)

Herbology - My Foolish Heart by Susan Warren (Christian contemporary)

History of Magic - Having Her Boss’s Baby by Susan Mallery (contemporary)

Muggle Studies - Geekerella by Ashley Poston (contemporary)

Potions - This Same Earth by Elizabeth Hunter (fantasy)

Transfiguration - The Light Within by Grace Draven (fantasy short story)

 

Christian Fiction:

Princess Ever After by Rachel Hauck (contemporary)

Fantasy:

The Caller by Juliet Marillier

A Hidden Fire by Elizabeth Hunter

The Force of Wind by Elizabeth Hunter

A Fall of Water by Elizabeth Hunter

Building From Ashes by Elizabeth Hunter

Contemporary:

Smooth-Talking Cowboy by Maisey Yates

Mail Order Cowboy by Maisey Yates (novella)

Brokedown Cowboy by Maisey Yates

Bad News Cowboy by Maisey Yates

The Snow Bride by Debbie MacComber

Scones and Sensibility Review

Scones and Sensibility by Lindsay Eland is a middle grade contemporary. We follow 12-year-old Polly as she uses inspiration from her favorite books, Anne of Green Gables and Pride and Prejudice, to help the people in her life find love.

I gave this book 3 out of 5 stars. It was funny and a quick read. I liked the concept, but it didn’t really rise up to my hopes. Polly is obsessed with her romantic classics and goes so far as to try and imitate the way they act, speak and even think. This could have been cute and quirky if she wasn’t the narrative voice of the story. As it is, it very quickly became pretentious with a sense of clearly trying too hard. It worked in the dialogue, but I found it overdone and annoying in the rest. In addition to that, Polly lacked the charm of Anne Shirley or Emma Woodhouse that endeared readers to them in spite of character flaws or exaggerations. If I was around 11 when reading this book, it may not have bothered me, but as an adult it did.

Most of the characters are two-dimensional and lack depth (and the opportunity to build it). Everything is very surface level with general characters: like the terror child or the so in love parents, or the cranky older single lady. They didn’t feel like real people.

On top of that, the plot was fairly predictable and nothing new. We could tell where the story was going from the very beginning which is not always a problem if the execution is done well but it didn’t do much for me here.

In spite of the flaws, this book was still entertaining and, as I can see a young girl enjoying it and it being a middle grade target audience, I felt it should still get a positive rating.

Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue Review

Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee is a young adult historical fiction novel. It follows Henry (Monty), his sister Felicity and his childhood friend Percy as they set out on their “Grand Tour” of Europe, but things invariably go off course.

This book gets 2 out of 5 stars. It was pretty blah. The plot was kind of interesting, but like every bad thing that could happen did. Furthermore, many of the plot events were instigated by stupid and bad choices on the main character’s part. Nor was I really impressed by the conflict of the story. As a predominantly historical work I would have preferred the conflict to be more realistic than fantastical.

Another let down was that I didn’t like any of the characters. They were not just flawed but really just unlikeable people. Each of the three main characters expresses one way society of the time judged and put down people (homosexual man, education minded female, and half black epileptic). Those are not small topics or unimportant topics, but Lee doesn’t leave us with a sense of hope in the knowledge that things have changed over time (less discrimination all the way around) and in trying to address all of them she is stretched thin (no opportunity to go into real depth into any of them). At the end of the book in an author’s note she does give a little extra info on each of those topics in the context of that time, but that just isn’t enough. I would have preferred her choosing one topic to really delve into in novel form or make it a series and do one topic per book.

Furthermore, she also seems to try and excuse Monty’s terrible behavior and choices with his past (which is a very sad thing and what he went through is in no way okay), but I think at 18 years old a person needs to take responsibility for their own choices and actions. He was just completely driven by selfishness and that didn’t change through the book. None of the characters really grew through the story.   

There was obviously a lot of behavior going on in this book that was clearly not okay: getting drunk all the time, badmouthing and cursing, stealing, characters who were ready to have sex with practically anyone, stealing etc. The sexual content got a bit heavy and uncomfortable in three places, but not full on pornographic.

Overall, it was quite the let down after all the hype it has been getting. The only things really going for it is that it does bring up important issues about the time and the writing style is easy and quick to read. But that doesn’t make it a good book.

Lucky in Love Review

Lucky in Love by Kasie West is a young adult contemporary novel. It is about 18 year old Maddie who is in full control of her life with her future planned out as far as she possibly can. But with a spur of the moment purchase of a lottery ticket on her 18^th birthday, she unbelievably wins and her whole life changes.

I gave this book a 4 out of 5 stars. I really enjoyed it. The characters were complex and diverse, flawed and interesting. Their interaction (especially with Maddie) and the character development through the story felt very realistic. The relationships, both the dynamics and changes, were so well done.

The plot itself was a really nice look at money in our lives, both the lack of money and the abundance of it. I felt West did a very good job at showing people’s attitudes towards money as well as how they view others with money. This topic isn’t necessarily one that I love reading about, but it worked here. There was enough light hearted content to soften the harsh realities that Maddie was facing.

Overall this was a cute romance, but the story was so much more than that. It is one of those books that makes you think and sticks with you.

The Distance Between Us Review

The Distance Between Us by Kasie West is a young adult contemporary novel. This book is about 17-year-old Caymen who has lived in the small apartment above her mother’s porcelain doll shop her whole life. From there she had a great view of the rich clientele, that plus her mother’s warnings have left her with a very negative view of the wealthy. Until Xander shows up oozing “wealth” to get his Grandmother a doll and challenges all her beliefs on the rich.

I gave this book 4 out of 5 stars. I really enjoyed this story. It is very different than anything I have read before. As I expect from her works I flew through it and was on the edge of my seat the entire time. I found the topic quite interesting, but it isn’t really my favorite.

The characters were very well developed and fun to follow, but I lacked the relatability. Thankfully I was still invested in them and their story enough to stick with the story. These weren’t my favorite characters by West, but they were still high quality and multidimensional and flawed like I expect from her.  

Overall, this was a good book, it just wasn’t one of my favorites by her.

The Fill-In Boyfriend Review

The Fill-in Boyfriend by Kasie West is a young adult contemporary. It is about young Gia, student body president, the girl with everything under control, until her long-distance boyfriend breaks up with her in the parking lot of her senior prom. With her friends growing doubts about the existence of this boyfriend, she talks a stranger dropping off his sister into pretending to be her boyfriend in order to meet her friends. This sets into motion a series of events that will change her life.

I gave this book 3 out of 5 stars. It was okay, but just that. I was kind of disappointed that I didn’t like it more. The writing style was still really strong and fun to read. The plot was fast paced and smooth. I found her characters to be well developed (as I have come to expect from her) and did feel fairly invested in them.

My big issue with this story is the plot itself. It was entirely made up of teen drama. I understand the story is about teenagers, so expect a bit of that, but not as the driving force and main storyline. The story set up sounded so interesting and full of potential, but I was quite disappointed in her spin. Furthermore, the setup of many young people making immature decisions and mistakes wouldn’t have felt as bad if more people than the main character suffered consequences for them. But she was the only one who really suffered for her bad choices, even though she regretted them and was trying to make amends. All of that together just irritated me and diminished my pleasure in the book. My last issue was that the ending was really abrupt (as in, wait what?).

Overall, I don’t regret reading this book, but it definitely did not rise to my expectations.