![]() once upon a time “we all laced together—a brothel madam, an English professor, a mute cook, a quadroon cabbie, and me, the girl carrying a bucket of lies and throwing them like confetti.” While I certainly dabble in it, I wouldn’t say that I’m a big reader of historical fiction. However, Ruta Sepetys is one author that is an instant buy for me. I started with Between Shades of Grey, which is probably still her most famous book, and I've read every one of her releases since. While Out of the Easy is still historical fiction, I’ve always thought it was a little different from her other books. Her other books center around historical events like World War II, but Out of the Easy simply takes place in 1950’s New Orleans. Josie is known around town as the daughter of a prostitute, and even though she’s found a home and family growing up in a brothel, she wants more out of life. But in her effort to escape the Big Easy, Josie finds herself tangled up in lies, intrigue, and a murder investigation - decidedly different from Sepetys usual format. Oh, and there’s a sweet romance with local James Dean stand-in, Jesse. I would read literally anything set in New Orleans, and the idea of a girl growing up in a brothel certainly intrigued me. Picking up anything by Ruta Sepetys is pretty much guaranteed to bring on a good cry, and this book is no exception. It’s not an emotional rollercoaster by any means, at least not compared to some of her other books, but I think that Sepetys is such a master at bringing heart and humanity to all of her characters. Even if you’re not a fan of historical fiction, I think that anyone would love Sepetys, and especially this book. There’s something in it for everyone and I’ve always found character-driven historical fiction to be a little rare. If you haven’t taken a dive into Ruta Sepetys before I would highly recommend starting with this book, and if you have but haven’t read this book then you definitely should!
0 Comments
![]() If you sift through my old posts you might pick up on the fact that I was pretty underwhelmed by From Blood and Ash. However, that frigging cliffhanger forced me to pick up the next book. I’ve really struggled to rate A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire because despite the fact that it is a hot-ass mess, I actually really enjoyed reading it. Once again, absolutely nothing important happens until the last 100 pages. I don’t usually have an issue with a slow-burn or whatever, but when it’s the second book in a series I expected it to actually get the plot going a lot sooner than it did, especially when it’s over 600 pages. I know that a lot more world-building needed to be done after the ending of FBAA, but it’s all tell and no show. Every single page was Poppy asking a question and getting a long-winded answer from Keiran or Casteel. Now, JLA is obviously a great writer so I wasn’t necessarily bored during these interactions, but around the 400 page mark I think my annoyance outweighed Keiran’s. Speaking of Keiran, something about the concept of bonded Wolven skeeves me out. They essentially pledge to give up their lives for and serve an Atlantian, but that vow only goes one way. There’s no reciprocation on the part of the Atlantian. Now, I know that Casteel and Keiran are best friends and Casteel cares for him and protects him, but he’s still essentially in charge of his life. It’s not like the parabatai bond in Cassandra Clare’s shadowhunter world, where two people pledge to always protect and love one another. This is basically servitude. And the Joining makes not a lick of sense and y’all know it. I don’t think I’m prudish in any way when it comes to books, but I don’t think any of these people, particularly Keiran, seem all that into the idea of being together. But I know he’d do it for Casteel and for Poppy - not because he himself wants to. Every pseudo-sexual interaction that Keiran finds himself involved in also weirds me out. He’s always there because he has to be, and Poppy and Casteel make the situation sexual. I know that it’s not usually on purpose, but still. I want Keiran to find his own love interest, or at least SOMETHING that isn’t tied to Casteel and Poppy. A few more complaints/observations: Alastir is sketchy af (one of the plotlines that has kept me reading), these books aren’t that smutty, there’s about three jokes that get repeated every 4 pages, Poppy is deliberately obtuse when it comes to Casteel, Casteel and Keiran are the reasons that I keep reading, how can Poppy thrive in a full-on battle when she’s only ever trained one-on-one? As I said, I actually really enjoyed reading this installment, despite my many complaints. I think the best way to describe it is that this book seems like a really fantastic early draft, it just needs more tweaking when it comes to pacing (at least for me). Still reading A Crown of Gilded Bones though. ![]() "I can touch you less gently, but I won't love you less kindly.” I’m not gonna lie, after Wayward Son I was a little nervous for this book. I’m the kind of person who would happily read an 800 page book of my favourite characters just being happy, and this is especially true of characters like Simon and Baz, who have spent a lot of time being decidedly unhappy. I am pleased to say that even though Simon and Baz are certainly going through it in Any Way the Wind Blows, they spend a lot more time communicating and working through their issues together. Baz is one of my favourite characters of all time (some might say I relate to him a little too much), and so I was really happy to see him and Simon working together as a team and navigating their new realities together. Even though Wayward Son doesn’t have the romance of Carry On or AWTWB, it marked an important stage in their relationship. Rowell did a great job of bringing some of those struggles into this book without dragging them out, and it was really fantastic to see both Simon and Baz go all in for each other. Rowell even managed to make me give af about Agatha, which I would have told you was impossible. I don’t know if I just appreciate the character archetype that Agatha represents more now then I did when I read the first two books, but it was nice to see her give less of a shit and go for what she wants. I always liked Penelope, but I’ve always cared infinitely more about Simon and Baz. This is still true, but I found myself actually looking forward to Penelope and Shepherd’s chapters instead of just working through it to get back to Snaz (I’m trademarking this, idc). Shepherd was an absolutely perfect love interest for someone like Penelope, and I loved how he challenged her preconceptions and somewhat rigid and outdated beliefs about magic. Overall I thought that the book was laid out really well and had a good balance between action/questing and character growth. The final climax was maybe a little rushed, but in my opinion it really wasn’t the main plot of the story so I didn’t have an issue with that. I think that the book was a lot more about these characters actually confronting the fallout of their childhoods and navigating their new realities and relationships. A lot of that is obviously going to mean a lot of talking and introspection, but Rowell has never had any trouble making this feel interesting or high-stakes. Her style in the Carry On series is a little different, especially in this book, but I think that it fits so well with the characters and the narrative (she loves to do an aside in parentheses even more than me) (and that’s saying something). I think it resulted in some really beautiful passages. I had always been dreading the ending of this book for a lot of reasons. I’m the kind of reader who wants things to be wrapped up, and quite frankly I hate unhappy endings. I want to know that the characters, particularly ones who I love so much, are happy or are going to be happy. Obviously, Rainbow and I do not see eye to eye on this - the woman loves an ambiguous ending. This felt like a happy compromise. There are certainly shades of ambiguity, but I think that the characters are left in a good place emotionally, and where we don’t know exactly what’s going to happen, but we have a pretty good idea. All in all, I think that this was a fantastic conclusion to a trilogy that I’ve always loved. ![]() “So now, the time has come. I dust myself off, and go on.” Chanel Miller I don’t typically read non-fiction and I generally struggle to find books in this genre that interest me or hold my attention. Today I wanted to spotlight two non-fiction books that I absolutely loved and would highly recommend to anyone out there, whether or not non-fiction is your cup of tea. Before we knew her as Chanel Miller, we knew her as Jane Doe, the victim in the Stanford Rape Case. The case caught international headlines because of the ridiculous and sexist news coverage by reporters who thought it was prudent to include Brock Turner’s race times for the Stanford swim team. However, it also went viral because of Miller’s moving victim impact statement. In her book, Miller reclaims her identity and tells her side of the story through the assault, the trial, and her journey towards recovery. Her story highlights the flaws in our justice system and the trauma of sexual assault, but in many ways it is also a love letter to survivors. Not only is this an incredibly important story, but Miller is also an immensely talented writer with a beautiful and unique style. Catch and Kill (which I reviewed last summer) is an account of Ronan Farrow’s work to break the Harvey Weinstein story. Even if you had closely followed the Weinstein case, I guarantee there will be elements to this conspiracy and cover-up that will shock you. Farrow is obviously a great writer and I think he did a fantastic job of laying out the facts of the case and the process of his reporting that anyone outside of the journalism field could follow along and feel engaged. He also includes personal anecdotes and touches of humour that make the book feel easier to read. ![]() Once Upon a Time Cassidy Serhienko In honour of the upcoming release of Any Way the Wind Blows, this week’s #throwbackthursday is Carry On by Rainbow Rowell. Baz has got to be one of my all-time favourite book characters and despite Wayward Son not being quite what I expected, I am sooo happy that Rainbow Rowell decided to turn this book into a trilogy. That said, I am fully prepared to fight her if Simon and Baz don’t spend AT LEAST a third of Any Way the Wind Blows actually being happy. Carry On could have been a really fluffy, kind of ironic, tie-in to Fangirl and I’m sure myself and other fans would have still loved it. But instead, Rowell chose to really dive into the Chosen One trope and the repercussions that it would realistically have on the “hero”, particularly when the time for heroics is over. The way that she handles Simon and Baz’s respective insecurities and the progression of their relationship makes the entire Carry On series one of my favourites. While there’s certainly still plenty of inside jokes, I think that she does such an excellent job of exploring what are essentially literary tropes and almost bringing humanity to beloved characters and plotlines that we’re already so familiar with. I did find the start of Carry On somewhat slow since I don’t think things really pick up until Baz comes back, but considering it’s kind-of-sort-of supposed to be the eighth installment in a series Rowell does a really fantastic job of providing background information and world-building without just info-dumping. Obviously this is a play on a certain series involving witchcraft and wizardry, but the magic system and world that Rowell creates is really unique while still giving little nods to Harry Potter. I read Wayward Son in one sitting the day that it came out, but I’m still a little unsure of my feelings. As I said, it’s definitely not what I had been expecting from a sequel. However, I think that the tension between Simon and Baz and the personal issues that each of them, particularly Simon, have to work through are much more realistic to where their relationship would be. Of course I wanted an entire book of them being happy and in love, but it just wouldn’t be true to what Rowell is doing with the series. I wish that they had actually been communicating a little more by the end of the book, but based on the set-up I think Any Way the Wind Blows will focus more on their relationship and HOPEFULLY I will get some happy and in-love Snaz (consider this a petition for Snaz to be the new ship name, we’ve really missed an opportunity here people). We all know Rainbow Rowell, so make sure you have the tissues ready July 6! |
Find Me!
|