This won’t really be that much of a review, because I feel it is unfair to the fact that this really happened. This is more of an expression of thoughts I had while reading. I’m not here to debate the choices Dr. Nyiszli made to keep himself (and his family) alive in one of the absolute bleakest moments in the world’s history.
The book is by no means easy to get through and I was on the verge of tears more than once. The stories of what went on at the camps were more than anyone should ever have to deal with (and that’s unfortunately an understatement).
It’s a thought provoking, grief-stricken, hug your loved ones tighter kind of book. This memoir is a true insider tale of what happened daily in Auschwitz. The horrid sense of personalities you get from the people surrounding the doctor will make you shiver. I have read a handful of historical things about WWII, but nothing to this extent. My mind is still trying to comprehend the atrocities that he witnessed and had to commit.
This book will make you uncomfortable. It will make you think. These kind of books can’t be called “good books.” A memoir such as this needs to be read if only to remind us that this did happen, and to ensure that history never repeats itself.
Overall audience notes: - Mature and sensitive topics - Violence: gas chambers, mass murders, shootings, executions, starvation, and more. - No language, written in a detached, clinical perspective...more
The Crimson Crown was everything I love in a finale. It’s one of those books where yes, you know where it’s going, but not how, and I continually sat there way too anxious if my favs were going to make it out alive.
Han is definitely my forever favorite. He took a few pages from the dark side and I couldn’t be more thrilled. His continual passion for his one goal made me swoon and cheer him on over and over. I love that he’s not a typical hero. He came from a situation that should have never given him hope, and yet, he fiercely clung to the last string of faith he had.
Raisa is one of my all time top Warrior Queens. She unsurprisingly remained strong and stubborn. Even when crisis upon castle siege crisis came upon her, she was steadfast. I appreciated that she continually held to her ideals and what she wants for her Queendom (and Queendom? Hell yeah).
Now put those two together and they are a top OTP. Passionately fighting to be with each other, somehow betraying each other, and feeling this impending doom of never getting to be together. AHHHHH THE ANGST. Their collision is everything and their moment in the garden had me by my very soul. I love love love that they never lost faith in them.
This magic world is totally complex and the world building blew me away. I was so invested in how everything looked, felt, worked, sounded, etc. The prose isn’t heavy, but enlightening and spans the time that it needs too.
All of the side characters were well personalized. I actually felt like I knew them as well as I knew the main POVs. Crow, Dancer, Cat, Amon, Night Bird, and I could go on and on!! Crow was so presh. Acting all fatherly to Han and making sure he was okay and got what Crow never did *TEARS*. Cat was another great one who at last found a place for her in the Queendom and it was amazing to watch her grow over the series.
I missed seeing Amon a little bit, he wasn’t as big of a side character this round. But Dancer mostly picked up those sections, so it was alright, but that’s honestly the only major thing I can think of I struggled with. There’s a lot of politics, though enough kept happening that I didn’t mind.
Overall audience notes:
- Young adult fantasy - No language - Some intense kiss scenes, a loosely implied love scene - Lots of violence (torture, knives, magic, birds eating you alive) - Trigger warnings: implied rape (a backstory of one of the side characters)...more
Barring a total downfall in the last book (which I strongly believe won’t happen) this will land in one of my top favorite series. This is all so great!
“Why is prophecy always so bloody cryptic?”
Isn’t this the epitome of most fantasy books? I love that Raisa freely speaks her mind. She is a fierce Queen who holds her own in warring circles of men. Her continual push to make her own decisions and on her own terms makes me love her character even more. Raisa isn’t wishy-washy and stands to be one of my fav feminine ladies.
I’m still obsessed with my cinnamon roll of a book boyfriend Han. Happiness is almost within reach. AND HE NEEDS THIS, OKAY? I can only hope that for once things work out in his favor in this last installment. I’m not sure what games he’s playing, but I will stand by his side to the end!
Y’all, the way this last book is shaking out, I’m in for a ride. There’s a lot of politicking that does get a little tiresome, but has been written really well compared to other books I found odious. The manipulations and machinations with this court are tricky. I can’t wait to see all the cards laid out!!
The world building is another great portion of The Gray Wolf Throne. All of our characters are continually moving around the countryside and I’m amazed at how beautifully it’s all written. Nothing is drawn out, but The Seven Realms are so diverse and I love being in this world.
What I also find unique is that Wizards aren’t loved. Other books tend to lean towards, everyone wants to be a wizard!, but here they are so mistrusted. It makes me enjoy this series on a new level.
Overall audience notes: - Young adult fantasy: wizards, magic - Almost non-existent language - A lot of violence (swords, arrows, knives, etc.) - Some solid kiss scenes, but nothing too crazy...more
That’s about all I remember from this book honestly. And what made me even more sad about it was that it wasn’t romantic sex. It was just eh. Most of the characters were practically consumed by their sex life. I will be the first person to say I love a good love story, but not in this way. I’m not even sure what kind of story it was? Middle-class women with a lot of issues was about all I gathered.
Now those pieces are written well. The author gets that psyche down and each character was struggling with some tough issues. Murder, grief, depression, guilt, looming divorce, affairs of the heart, Mom-shame, and a lot more.
This book has a lot happening at all times. Enough so that I flew through it, but was left with a bitter taste. The “epilogue” didn’t solve any problems, and left things kind of frazzled and somewhat open-ended (in my interpretation).
I will say, the ethics of this book got me thinking. What would happen if a letter like that had come into my life, ya know? It is a lot to contemplate, but the secret was seen from way over a mile away so take the story as you want.
Overall audience notes: - Adult fiction mystery - Language - A lot more talking about sex than actual sex, but they’re some mild-detailed scenes - Violence (murder, car wrecks) - Trigger warnings: grief, depression, murder...more
Ali (who's immortal, mind you) acts like a full blown child. She has a STUFFED UNICORN 🙄 and wDNF @ 30%
Y'all, I couldn't get behind this book at all.
Ali (who's immortal, mind you) acts like a full blown child. She has a STUFFED UNICORN 🙄 and worships her Dad even though she's 400+ years old.
I also still don't understand quite how "weaving dreams" works. It wasn't explained well or thoroughly enough to grasp.
The time line is jumpy. So jumpy. I have no idea what year it is or where I was in the story. It would change so fast I was losing my mind over it.
My understanding is that this is a prequel novel. But based off of other reviews and what I've interpreted so far, there's no point in reading the first official book. Or finishing this one for that matter....more
Yet again (and not surprisingly) Amy Harmon has thrown me a book that I couldn’t put down. This book is small, but packs a punch [HAUNTINGLY POIGNANT.
Yet again (and not surprisingly) Amy Harmon has thrown me a book that I couldn’t put down. This book is small, but packs a punch [ooo, pun alert] and I finished this in an evening.
The Song of David is a standalone with a character from the original Law of Moses. David is tough, resilient, and stubbornly hard to handle. Watching his character struggles had me wanting to back-hand him a few times and then cry with him the next. I CAN’T HANDLE HOW SWEET HE IS.
Millie is a beautiful character. She never takes her trials laying down. Always facing adversity daily as she truly marches through life. I loved watching her take down David’s heart in an achingly masterful way.
Henry is also one of my top favorite side characters from a contemporary. He is funny, gentle and made we want to sob right along with him. He’ll win your heart so fast with his unique ways of viewing the world.
This book read mostly as a mystery where I seriously could not figure out what happened. My theory changed every chapter and I was getting so upset thinking the WORST had happened. It was skillful story-telling at its finest. These character were raw and real.
Amy Harmon is also one of my personal Queen’s of the slow burn. Her romances draw you out and leave you breathless. The ending leaves you begging for more answers yet grateful for the story that unfolded beforehand.
Overall audience notes:
Young adult contemporary (with a little paranormal [ghosts]) Some language Violence (David is a MMA fighter) Romance is some kissing/make-outs, a love scene (but Harmon is my favorite because these are so beautiful, and cleanly written!!)...more
Y'all, this series is giving me life. I haven't had a new series (where most/all books are out already) so getting this chance to binge read these is so fun. I wish I had known about this series sooner!
All of these characters are unique and bring their own strengths to the table. I looooove Han, he's my little reformed thief wizard extraordinaire. Raisa is stubborn, strong-willed and full of love for her people. I can't wait til she's Queen of the Fells (or the realms?? MAYBE!).
It started a little slow at first because of the traveling aspect, but once at Oden's Ford it gradually picked up and I was scooping up everything being laid out.
This is a great series so far. Can't wait for book 3!
Overall audiences notes: - Young adult fantasy - No language - Some vaguely implied romance; kisses/make-outs, a little descriptive - Some violence - Trigger Warnings: attempted assault...more
I really enjoyed devouring this book! Though, based off of the description you might believe it to be historical fiction based. While yes, the places, people, and other things are in history, the entire story is essentially fantasy.
Pike did a lot of research and wrote a great Note about the book at the end. It helped me understand her decisions in how she chose to take the book. Lets face it, there really isn’t a way for us to know if Langoureth had a lover on the side, if she truly loved her husband, what her relationship was like with her family, etc. So the author had to make a lot of choices in how to write her story. All in all, if you go into this wanting a fantasy with romance, duty, war and plenty more I think you’ll really enjoy it as I did! If you’re seeking more historical with language, and the time period you might be a little disappointed (as I have noticed in other reviews).
Langoureth is a work in progress as a Queen (as she is not Queen at this time). I only gathered the pieces of her growing up, so I believe further books will really let her shine. She’s strong willed and makes difficult choices to protect her family and her faith.
Overall audience notes: Overall audience notes: - Fantasy, based off of historical people - No language, except for one very derogatory word used once - Lots of blood, gore, and death - A few love scenes, a little steamy and descriptive...more
I’ve been really weary of reading anything Sanderson, NOT because I ever heard anything bad, but I was weirdly concerned that it was so loved that I would not enjoy it myself. I stand here today saying [so far]: I am wrong!
This was a great introduction to the Cosmere (Sanderson’s world; there’s a handful of series you can start from, but this is most often cited as the best option). The world building is intense and fulfilling. He’s known for his lengthy books, and I can see why. There is such an effort to how he portrays the universe and I loved it all.
Can I just say, I died when Elend and Vin met? I’m sorry, total goals to find a man reading books and then throw some witty banter in there and I swooned. I definitely laughed out loud listening to them. I could not even handle their cute, soft, amusing interactions. If they aren’t endgame, you won’t be seeing another Sanderson book in by TBR.
Also, y’all, these magic laws are intricate. What’s great is the author really spends time explaining them (not in a boring, skim the paragraphs way either). I can sit here and still remember what most of the metals are AND what they do. This is truly an epic fantasy with a lot of pieces to hold the Final Empire together.
Overall audience notes: - Epic fantasy - No language - A kiss (all “romance” scenes are the aforementioned lively conversations) - Lots of violence, some detailed and gory...more
*Note: I received a complimentary copy of this book from Thomas Nelson through Netgalley. Opinions expressed in the review are completely my3.5 stars*
*Note: I received a complimentary copy of this book from Thomas Nelson through Netgalley. Opinions expressed in the review are completely my own. Thank you for the opportunity to read Romanov! Publication date, length, etc. subject to change.
HISTORICALLY MAGICAL.
Second note: some of this may seem like a spoiler, but Brandes does a wonderful job of intertwining history WITH the magical pieces. Anything I bring up historically, really did happen and shouldn't be a surprise at all.
I think [know] I let myself get too hyped about this and was a little disappointed overall. It was still a good standalone that had the historic story as the basis with magic woven in so well that I was intrigued from the start! Some kinks left me wanting more.
I read this digitally, so let's see...it took til 54% through the book to FINALLY GET OUT OF THE HOUSE. I know we're in exile, but I was dying to see something else in my mind. There wasn't a lot of world building. I felt that I was expected to know what Russia and these other places looked like already so I missed out on the detailing of it all.
What I found really interesting was how Brandes gave the Romanov's such humanity. History dictates that this 300+ year old royal line was all kinds of crazy cruel (and that's putting it lightly). Now, I only know so much, this last group with Nicholas II as tsar could have been a more decent family than I'm aware of. It made me stop and think that all in all, this was a family. And this family was brutally murdered without trial.
This gave the whole family a lot more depth as "characters". They prayed together, were sincere to their captors, and were only wanting to be released somewhere together. Anastasia was fiercely loyal and protective of her brood. There was a huge emphasis on forgiveness from her character. This ideal repeatedly comes up as she struggles (rightly so) accepting her new fate.
My biggest loss was the magic system. I have no idea how it works. Very little was ever explained. There's spell masters, spell ink, some can use it, some can't, how is it made, can anyone be a spell master, how does this spell work, SOMEONE HELP ME. I am so confused. Since this was the fantasy portion of the book I was looking for a more detailed story-line of why magic was the target of the Red Army in the first place.
I am frazzled with one piece of the ending and booed at my book when it happened, but besides that this was the best ending for this book. And I mean that in a good way! Since it follows history, there's an assumption of what could've happened. I thought it was sweet and hopeful that fates cards were dealt differently for the Romanov's than what history served them.
One of my favorite parts of books are the Notes from the author (yes, I totally read those). When fully explained, they can really enhance the book! There was a wonderful explanation of what was true, what wasn't, and why she made certain creative decisions. It honestly made me like the book even more. I was totally surprised about some pieces actually being true! It helped me better understand the plot and the addition of some characters.
Overall audience notes: - Young adult historical fiction/fantasy - No language - A little love story that leads to a kiss or two - Violence: y'all there is a lot so everyone is aware, it is the Russian Revolution and historically on point; plenty of blood and fairly detailed - Trigger warnings: contemplation of suicide, gun violence...more
This was exactly what I expected this book to be and exactly what I felt like reading! A solid fantasy romance that was unique in its own ways.
First of all, Brishen and Ildiko? They don’t hate each other. Yes, forced to marry, but both of them are actually decent creatures who decided to make the best of a situation they didn’t choose. Refreshing to say the least.
It’s nothing new for the genre or ground-breaking in anyway, but I was craving a solid romantic fantasy that I could drift away into for a bit and this delivered. Some pieces of the story aren’t fully fleshed out (the magic system, the other kingdom, etc.). It didn’t detract from the story though enough to be an issue.
Overall audience notes: – Fantasy romance – Minor, barely there language – Detailed love scenes – Violence (arrows, knives, torture)...more
The Great Library focus is on the powerful friendships that can change the world. It’s great, it’s different than my normal reads and I’m always riveted by the end. The camaraderie between Jess, Thomas, Khalila, Dario, Glain, Morgan, Wolfe, Santi and even Brendan (I think I got them all?) is so fun to watch. Inter-relationships pull each other in ways where you’re not quite sure what side of the line they’ll end up on.
Jess is a well-rounded protagonist. He’s strong and dynamic and follows his own moral compass of guidelines. It leads him to be occasionally an unreliable narrator, leaving you missing just enough pieces to start to form the chess game he’s already started in his mind.
Wolfe and Santi’s relationship is precious. They’ve literally been through hell and back and are such fierce protectors of each other. I love the small, soft moments they get where we get to see their walls down.
Y’all, I got Brendan a lot more in this book too!! I think he’s a great antagonist. The Ying to Jess’s Yang. Them coming together in the end gave a magnificent plot-twist cliff-hanger ending that will play out in ways that I’m not even sure of. I love not being sure of things!
Overall audience notes: – Young adult dystopian/fantasy – No language – Some violence (blood, guns, physical) – Kiss scenes are slightly passionate with one scene where more could be implied...more
I wasn’t as mesmerized by this installment. It was good, don’t get me wrong. I’ll definitely be checking out the third one, but I feel a little…deflated.
The story is strong and I appreciate the focus on the plot. There’s a goal, I know where it’s going, and we’re not diving off left and right. While the rescue mission is underway I wanted more drama to unfold.
I still love Jess. He’s a great protagonist. I love that, in general, he owns being from a criminal family and uses that to his advantage. I hope his brother, Brendan plays a bigger role soon. In my mind he’s super complex and I think it would be fun if he had a bigger spotlight.
Overall audience notes: – Young adult fantasy & dystopia – No language – Kiss scenes are minor – Gun violence ...more
Cait | GoodeyReads
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Books:
2018
(171)
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