Review: Miracle on 5th Avenue

Miracle on 5th Avenue by Sarah Morgan
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This was so perfect for the season!! I adored this one from the very start and it has all of the bells and whistles of love at Christmas with lots of snow thrown in. :)

The main characters are Evie and Lucas. Evie is struggling to get through Christmas without her beloved Grandma who was everything to her and raised her while also trying to build her new business with her best friends. Evie has kind of cocooned herself in the past year and just feels very alone although she masks it well at work.

Lucas hates Christmas and just barely drags himself through each day since losing his wife. Lucas is also a crime writer who is struggling to write his latest novel before his deadline at the end of the year. The problem is that he hasn't written one word and his grief and self loathing is too overpowering to allow him to do anything but wallow. He wants nothing more than to just hide from civilization.

However, a wrench is thrown in his plans when he finds Evie in his apartment having been hired by his grandmother to bring some Christmas cheer to his pristine penthouse apartment. Through very funny circumstances and dialog there is potential that these two might just be who the other needs to open up.

I absolutely love Christmas romances and this book really fit the bill. I adore this author and this will definitely I reread each year. I went through all of the emotions in this book and I really felt invested in the characters which isn't always easy to do in these types of books. I was heartbroken at times while reading and also swooning at times.

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Review: Empire of Storms

Empire of Storms by Sarah J. Maas
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I can't get enough of this series and cannot wait for the final book next year. My heart just can't take the suspense. OMG!!

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The Fantastic Beasts Tag!

The Fantastic Beasts Tag!

I was tagged by Meg. Please check out her channel as well as the original channel linked below.

Meg Talks Life Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbkUvztPvo5miaEaxKNTDlg Original Tag Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdHj6fEm9HQ&feature=youtu.be

Questions:
1. Niffler - Seeking out treasure like jewelry or coins and stealing whatever they can get their claws on is their greatest skill. What is a book you've borrowed or stolen?
2. Bowtruckle - Pickett is one of Newt’s favorite creatures who has a talent for picking locks. What is your "personal favorite" book that unlocks the key to your true personality?
3. Thunderbird – One flap of a Thunderbird’s wings can create enormous storms and their power gives them the ability to sense danger. What is a book that creates a storm of discussion because of the danger it attracts?
4. Swooping Evil – An extremely scary creature that is capable of sucking out brains and whose venom can erase any bad memory. What is a book you'd like to forget?
5. Demiguise – Peaceful beasts that can turn invisible and have light precognitive abilities, allowing them to “feel the future” and change it by anticipating outcomes. What is a book that depicts and predicts a possibly visible future, bleak or otherwise?
6. Occamy – They can grow to the size of a football field or shrink to the size of a tiny teacup. What is the largest book you own and the smallest book you own?
7. Nundu – Difficult to catch, they can move silently despite their immense size. What is an audio book you listen to silently whilst traveling?
8. Graphorn – Newt has saved the last breeding pair and without him the species as a whole would’ve gone extinct. What is a book that is going extinct that you want to save?
9¾. Billywig – Their powerful sting can affect both muggles and magical folk alike. What is a book you’ve read with someone else that stung you both emotionally?
10. Erumpent – A friendly creature unless you’re a foe… their thick hide can repel most spells and charms. What is an extremely dense read that was hard for you to get through?

Answers:
1. Does a Library book count? I currently just finished The Light between Oceans which is borrowed from my library.
2. My personal favorite book is Jane Eyre. The personality of the main character is somewhat similar to me. I am quiet, reserved and very much an introvert.
3. I think any book from the “New Adult” genre causes controversy in some circles. For me personally, they are hit or miss. An example is Beautiful Disaster or Fifty Shades of Grey.
4. The book that comes to mind is Allegiant by Veronica Roth but since Meg said that answer, I’m going to go with Frankenstein. I really felt horrible to for the monster and the entire bleakness of the world.
5. I think The Martian is a good one. Especially, nowadays that scientists are seeing that as a very real possibility for the future.
  6. Hamilton: The Revolution is my largest and any of my Little Black Classics published by Penguin could count as my smallest.
7. I only recently started listening to Audiobooks but the last one I listened to while traveling to work was Trigger Warnings by Neil Gaiman.
8. I think that so many of my favorite classics are in danger of going extinct. Aside from high school or college mandatory reading, there are so many great books that I have heard nobody every mention and no one I know has read them. Examples include The Coquette and Iola Leroy.
9. I’ve never done a buddy read. However, I have read a few books that were recommended by a friend. Last year, I read Legend by Jude Deveraux which is a historical romance. It was somewhat of an emotional read and we got to fangirl over it afterward which was fun.
10. Winter’s Tale by Mark Helprin was extremely dense.

Review: Ten Thousand Skies Above You

Ten Thousand Skies Above You by Claudia Gray
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I am loving these books so much. I can't say much about this book without spoilers since it is the second in a trilogy. All I can say is that is took off from where the first book left off and ended with a huge cliffhanger. It will leave you reaching immediately for the third and final book.
Claudia Gray has not disappointed with this book.

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Review: Waistcoats & Weaponry

Waistcoats & Weaponry by Gail Carriger
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Good third book to the series. Although I think is was my least favorite thus far. However, I am eager to read the fourth and final book to see how this series wraps up.

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Review: The Light Between Oceans

The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I found this book to be just okay. I really had a hard time connecting to the characters even in the general sense of likability.

This book follows Tom, a lighthouse keeper on a small island a couple of miles from the coast off the Australian mainland during the 1920's. Tom, like anyone else who has previously taken this position, is cut off from civilization and only can get supplies every 3 months or so. It is quite a lonely and isolating job that last three years at a time. As Tom is war veteran, he finds the isolation peaceful and finds that he can live a good life on this island.

During one of his stays on the mainland, he courts and marries a young woman names Isabel who wants nothing more than to settle down and have a baby. After several miscarriages and other troubles, a boat washes onshore with two passengers, a deceased man and a baby. Isabel, believing this to be a gift from above, convinces Tom that they should keep the baby and raise it as their own.

This is a very emotional read and I knew that going in. I wanted to read this mainly because of the movie having just come out. This book basically follows the theme of how good people can make terrible decisions and how those decisions can disrupt and destroy. I really found the character of Isabel to be so unlikable. I also found Tom to be very much a pushover. The only redeemable quality of this book really was the beautiful descriptions of the setting and the time period.

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Review: A Thousand Pieces of You

A Thousand Pieces of You by Claudia Gray
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Wow! 5 Stars! This book was just so great and blew my mind so many times. I hope everyone gives this book a shot.

This book follows Marguerite who is the daughter of two famous physicists. At the start of this book, we know that Marguerite's parents have discovered a way to travel to other dimensions (like parallel universes). There are two grad students also who work with Marguerite's parents, Theo and Paul.
We also find out that soon after this discovery, Marguerite s father Henry, is killed and Paul is suspected of the murder.

This book is so wonderful at explaining how everything works. It was so easy to follow and so easy to understand. So in this story, Marguerite and Theo vow to avenge Henry's killer. To do that, they must go after Paul who has already leaped into another dimension.

The only other thing I'll say is that when a person goes to a different dimension, they take over the the alternate version of themselves in that other dimension. So Marguerite gets to experience other versions of her life. It gets so interesting. In some dimensions, technology is so much more advanced and in others, technology hasn't yet existed to the point where it is like living in the 1800's.
So Marguerite goes on this wild journey to find the truth of what happened and finds that not all things are as they seem.

I hope everyone reward this book but it is just that good.


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Review: The Forgetting

The Forgetting by Sharon Cameron
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I really liked this book! This is a Dystopian novel about a society that lives in a city surrounded by Stone Walls. Everything in the city is regulated by a ruling council. Every citizen is identified by profession and every person is also required to carry their personal book in which they record their lives, thoughts and feelings (Like a diary of sorts). The reason for all of this is every twelve years, every person experiences a phenomenon called "the forgetting" where all of their memories are wiped out. They look to their personal books in order to try and piece their lives together again.

So, in this book the main character is Nadia. Nadia, unlike everyone else in this society, has always remembered everything. And partly because of this, she risks everything every night sneaking over the walls that surround the city in order to try and find out what else might be out there and why things are the way they are. Nadia also begins to work with a boy named Gray, who after seeing Nadia climb the wall, convinces (partly blackmails) her to take him with her next time.
So, this book follows Nadia and Gray as they explore behind the walls and begin to learn more about the history of their society and history of "the forgetting."

Like I said earlier, I really liked this book. I thought it was well written and fast paced. There were revelations that I did not see coming. The only negative was that I wish there could have been a little bit more of a conclusion.
Overall, this was a great read!



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