Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn Book Review

Rating: 3/5
Genre: Adult, mystery

Summary:

"Fresh from a brief stay at a psych hospital, reporter Camille Preaker faces a troubling assignment: she must return to her tiny hometown to cover the murders of two preteen girls. For years, Camille has hardly spoken to her neurotic, hypochondriac mother or to the half-sister she barely knows: a beautiful thirteen-year-old with an eerie grip on the town. Now, installed in her old bedroom in her family's Victorian mansion, Camille finds herself identifying with the young victims—a bit too strongly. Dogged by her own demons, she must unravel the psychological puzzle of her own past if she wants to get the story—and survive this homecoming."
-Sharp Objects, Gillian Flynn

My Thoughts:

There are many trigger warnings for this book, I will try to keep them out of my review. Some of the major trigger warnings are: Illness, self harm, psychiatric hospitals, mental illness, sex, gore, alcohol, alcoholism

Gillian Flynn does not leave any details out. You can easily see into the mind of the protagonist and her descriptions make it easy to feel what she is going through. The writing is fantastic, but this book is not for you if you don't want to feel and experience any or all of the above listed trigger warnings. You have to give a hand to the author for writing in such a way that makes you feel so much. Most people write off this book and give it low ratings because of the dark feelings and the scary thoughts that can come from reading this book. I think this book deserves a higher rating because of how effective the author is at conveying thoughts and feelings to the reader. 

The characters are very well voiced. There is a difference between each character and you can really get the feel for them as if you were meeting them yourself. 

The mystery is very well done. You can start guessing about who is doing what fairly easy, but you cannot guess how deep or how far they will go. (Or at least I didn't) 

The only real problem I had was that we don't really learn much about the protagonist from the beginning. It takes a very long time to know why the protagonist is acting the way she is. The summary states that she had a stay in the psych hospital, but you wouldn't know that until over halfway through the book. It would have been nice to have these background details earlier so we could understand better about the protagonist.

Overall this is a very relatable novel. I gave it 3/5 stars because the book was almost too relatable for me and I didn't like how some details weren't revealed until the end which took away from the experience of reading the first half of the book. I didn't like the way this book made me feel, so the rating is a bit lower just because of my own opinions and feelings for this book. It just wasn't for me.

I recommend this book for adults who want a dark and twisted read. 

The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor Review

Rating: 4/4
Genre: Fairytale, Young Adult Fiction

Summary:
This is a tale of a battle of imaginations.
Alyss Heart is the princess of Wonderland. When her evil aunt, Redd, comes to take over Wonderland, she must flee through a portal and ends up on Earth. Alyss tries to tell the people that she's a princess of Wonderland, but nobody believes her and pushes her to give up her imagination. Its up to her guard, Hatter Madigan to save her. He has to travel through the portals to try and find Alyss and bring her back to defeat Redd and become the Queen of Wonderland. Will Alyss still be her people's warrior queen after living in the real world has forced her imagination away?

My Thoughts:

I am not one for retellings, but this is by far my absolute favorite retelling I've ever read. This trilogy is such a creative take on the already creative Alice in Wonderland. Frank Beddor has a very refreshing and unique take on the characters from Alice in Wonderland. Such as Hatter Madigan, being a very skilled guard of the queen, or Bibwit Hare, a knowledgeable tutor to the Queens of Wonderland. The world of Wonderland is shown through beautiful depictions of this fantasy world and through innovative and beautiful examples of imagination. The Looking Glass Wars is a very quick paced read, but I feel that some of the later plot points may have happened a bit too quickly. I do believe that the imagination of this story needs some rules. It is unclear and inconsistent with what can and cannot be done through imagination in the world. The protagonist also seemed to mature way too quickly at the end. We go through most of this story with Alyss as a young girl going towards adult hood with the same kiddish thoughts. Then all of the sudden it is as if a switch has flipped and she's suddenly a mature and capable queen. I would have liked to see a bit more development into this.

Overall I absolutely loved this dark revolt take on the story of Alice in Wonderland. It is absolutely unique and extremely creative. This is a great read for any age.

The Bear by Andrew Krivak Review

Rating: 5/5
Genre: Young Adult Fiction

Summary:
This is the survival story of a journey through grieving, loss, companionship, and love.
After a great apocalypse, a man and his daughter are the only two people left on Earth. The Father teaches the Girl to hunt and how to survive in nature as he also teaches her about her Mother who had passed away giving birth to her. The man knows that he will not outlive the Girl and wants to make sure that he can teach her all that he can. These lessons will prove invaluable as she finds herself alone. But is she truly alone as she finds her way home with nature?

My Thoughts:
This book will easily become one of the classics. The writing is poetically phenomenal. There is beautiful imagery throughout the entire book and the journey you go through while reading this story will leave you in tears. This book will make you want to connect with nature and find the signs of nature's voice. It will give you a whole new respect for our environment.
At first, this book is quite depressing, but you must keep reading! This is not just a tale of sorrow. It is a tale of hope and human resilience. Even after we are gone, we will continue. We are apart of nature and nature is never ending.
The writing style in this novel is very unique. The Father and the Girl do not have names. They are just the Father and the Girl, just as the bear is the Bear and the puma is the Puma. I really think this helps us as readers realize that we are one with nature. The author chose to not use quotation marks which can be a little confusing when reading through dialogue, but fits in with the style of his writing which is very much like Cormac McCarthy's style, but without all the gore. (which I appreciate soooo much!)
Overall, this is definitely one of my top reads for this year. I cannot recommend this book enough! Please give this book a read!

Thank you to NetGalley and Bellevue Literary Press for allowing me to review this eARC.

The Sight by David Clement-Davies Review

Rating: 4/5
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy

Summary:
Through the eyes of the wolves we are introduced to Transylvania. The wolves here run free in their packs. We follow Larka and her pack as they face a great evil coming to their forest. Morgra, a lone she-wolf that has the Sight, stalks the pack and tries to destroy them as she also strives to bring the great evil to the forest. The Sight is an ancient power that connects all of nature, and can also connect the living to the dead. Morgra knows that one of the pups in this pack will also be gifted the Sight and will have the power to either destroy her plans, or help her usher in this great evil. Can Larka and her pack overcome Morgra and her curses?

My Thoughts:
This is a great introduction book for the fantasy genre. Although the wolf behavior is unrealistic, it does a great job of helping a young reader ease into reading fantasy. There are many great uses of foreshadowing and symbolism. This is a very long book, but the story is easy to follow as the reader is constantly reminded of earlier scenes through easily flowing dialogue. This book is amazing at introducing lore and making it flow into the current happenings in the book as you read.
There are also many parallels to history and to Christianity. This is a great way of tying in some non-fiction elements.
The writing style is very young. It is definitely aimed at a younger audience. The dialogue tags are extremely repetitive and could have been given more diversity to allow for an enhanced understanding of the character's dialogue. It is almost constantly just 'she growled' or 'he growled'.
The plot moves very quickly and makes you want to keep reading just one more chapter.

I give this book a 4/5 rating because of how well it works for a younger audience.

MindWalker by A.J. Steiger Book Review

Rating: 5/5
Genre: Young Adult Fiction, Young Adult Dystopian

Summary:
Lain is a 17 year old Mindwalker, meaning she is a therapist that can go into other's memories and erase them. The whole society is about creating a safe world with no crime and no mental illness. It is the Mindwalker's job to remove bad memories that could cause mental illness or harmful behavior. She meets a boy who she is told is off limits. The boy, Steve, asks her to remove his traumatic memories that place him as a harmful member of society. Lain goes against the rules and starts to remove his traumatic memories. As she does this, she discovers that his memories might not be all that they seem. Together they discover secrets about her family, mindwalking, and their society.

My Thoughts:

This book definitely differs from other popular dystopian novels which makes it new and exciting. I loved how fast the plot moved and how you never could tell exactly what was going!to happen next. The writing style was easy to follow and easily allowed for you to escape within the story. This novel was very thought provoking on how our society views mental illness. It makes you think a lot about how mental illness plays a role in our society and what we can do to help those with mental illness. Reading with Lain as the protagonist was very enjoyable. Her compassion and struggles were easy to relate to. She isn't a fighter like most female dystopian protagonist, but she was able to fight with her knowledge which made her that much more realistic.

I definitely recommend this book! It is fast paced and constantly keeps you wanting to read just one more chapter.

And I Darken by Kiersten White Review

Rating: 4/5 
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy, Historical Fiction

Summary:
This story follows Lada and her brother Radu as they are used as pawns in a political game between empires. Lada's goal is to survive and return to her homeland. Radu is more interested in deepening his knowledge and faith as well as his love. Both Lada and Radu make great friends with Mehmed who is the heir to the throne. The story continues by following their friendship and relationships with all the terror and drama that comes with being involved in the politics of an empire.

My Thoughts:

The story starts off a bit slow, but it completely necessary so we can get the background information we need. Because of this, we can now better understand how the politics work in this book and we can better understand our characters.

I absolutely LOVE how well time flows throughout this book. As we follow Lada, Radu, and Mehmed, we get to see them grow and we can feel them growing through the years. There is so much character growth that follows the natural characterization of these characters.
Lada is a prime example of a true feminine heroine. She is fierce and stays fierce. She doesn't change for anyone which is truly a characteristic of a strong female protagonist.

I completely recommend that you read this book. It has a little bit of everything which makes it easy to become engaged in.

The Land of Good Dreams by T.S. Thompson Review

Rating: 2/5

The Land of Good Dreams is a young middle grade fantasy read about a young girl, Samantha, whose parents were killed in a house fire. She lives now with her foster parents who mourn the loss of their baby girl. She struggles with nightmares until she gets a dog named Midnight who leads her to the Land of Good Dreams.

There are two major plots happening in this book. One is with Samantha and her journey into the Land of Dreams. This is a really good plot line for young readers. It had a lot of potential for this fantasy world, but it never really expanded to what it could be. It also has a second plot line that goes into depth of the foster parents recovery of losing their baby. This theme is too much for young readers and I felt it would have been better used in a completely separate book. I believe that a book should have one central plot. This book does not. It also introduces many other plot points that are never expanded on. One chapter in the middle of the book ends with a very ominous foreshadowing statement that is never brought up again or expanded on. The author also included a scene with the child’s therapist that makes it seem as if there is a major plot point that should be happening, but it is never mentioned again besides the one chapter. The author tries to create this fantasy world in the child’s dreams, but she just doesn’t create a believable world. It is too cliche and never expanded on. The book also ends with a chapter from the point of view of a character we’ve never had the point of view from before.

The writing style seems a bit choppy. It consistently tells more than it shows any details. This makes it really hard to become engaged in the story.The young girl, Samantha, is supposedly middle school aged, but does not act like it. Sometimes she is way too childish and immature for a middle school aged girl and is presented more as an elementary aged child and then other times she is presented with the maturity of an adult. It is inconsistent and not true to the age level that Samantha is. This led to a lot of cliche scenes and inconsistent characterization.

It should also be noted that this book poorly portrays therapy and portrays it very inaccurately.
I gave this book two stars because of the inconsistent themes. I think that this author would do very well in writing adult books and I would love to read more books of hers that are geared more towards adult audiences.