Praise then darkness, and creation unfinished

Going Overboard - Portia MacIntosh, 4.5/5, Audiobook ~7hrs
Rounded up on goodreads because THERE WAS NO THIRD ACT BREAKUP!!!

*ahrem*

Really, really sweet novel. Portia MacIntosh is a bit hit-and-miss, depending on whether or not she remembers that communication is key, and how much second-hand embarassment she subjects the reader to, but as neither issue was a problem here, it ended up being the best book I have read by her so far.

Lots of things to love about the book - from one of my favourite settings (a cruise ship!!! That in itself would have been enough to make me pick it up) through the fake dating trope (one of my favourites when done right) to the ride-or-die friendships (people who actually care about each other!).

I do think that Nikki's hostility lacked an explanation - especially as Jessa herself questioned it, but I loved Brody, and it was so refreshing to see a relationship - even a fake one - where people actually TALKED about things!

Predictable as - but really sweet all the same :-)


The Survivor Wants to Die at the End - Adam Silvera, 3/5, Audiobook ~18hrs
First and foremost - heed the trigger warnings! Neither suicide nor self-harm is a trigger to me, but if it is to you - stay away from this book! It's not just a brief sentence here or there, but a HUGE part of the plot!

Unfortunately the weakest of the lot. I liked "They Both Die at the End" and loved "The First to Die at the End", so had high hopes for this one - but it just couldn't deliver.
It's a hard book to review without small spoilers, so fair warning. I'll try to be as vague as possible.
Getting my complaints out of the way first ...

First of all - the book was too long. Not so much that I got bored listening to it, but there was a lot of repetition that could easily have been cut down.

Secondly, the vilification of Paz didn't make sense. The kid was 9 at the time of the shooting - how could people take it as anything other than the desperate acts of a desperate child? The fact that it was still ruining his life 10 years later seemed contrived to me.

Thirdly, there was a tad too much insta-love. I know this was the case in the other two books as well, but there it made SENSE, as they were working on a deadline. That wasn't the case here. Also, the relationship was unhealthy as. The very definition of a codependent relationship.

Finally, the end - a completely cop-out! Extremely annoying foreshadowing that made me subtract a star all by itself.

Right! That aside ...

I really liked the friendship between Paz and Alano. I liked that they spent time getting to know each other, and that they actually managed to communicate and understand each others' blind spots.
Paz' disorder seemed well described as well. Both the way his thoughts would spiral, and how he tried to stop himself, once he became aware of what was happening.

So all in all a book that could have been awesome, but which fell flat because of the end. A shame.


Alchemised - SenLinYu, 4/5, 1030 pages
This is a retelling of a Harry Potter fanfic - turning it into original fiction. I have read the fanfic as well, and while I do think the fanfic is better, SenLinYu did an amazing job of turning it into a piece of original fiction.

Getting the main issue out of the way first - the fanfic is better, because the backstory is more complete. It could hardly be any different, when one is based on a long series with character development and worldbuilding and the other has to stand on its own. In "Alchemised" we have to take the authors word for the friendship between Helena and Luc, and the animosity between Helena and Ferron ... in "Manacled", those things are implicitly understood, because we know Hermino, Harry and Draco. Having read "Manacled" I could extrapolate the relationships - I'm not sure how it would work, coming into it blind.

That said, I still found "Alchemised" incredibly well written, and was impressed by how SenLinYu twisted the magic around to turn it into original fiction. It's very dark fantasy, and any reader would do well to take the trigger warnings seriously.

I couldn't put it down, and read it at any chance I got, finishing 1030 pages in less than two weeks.


Lykkeriddere - Claus Holm & Simone Lindquist, 4.5/5, 398 pages
I've always been a fan of Claus Holm's books, and this is not only one of the best I've read by him, it could easily become one of the best books I read this year!

It's a wonderful mix of "Treasure Island" meets "Our Flag Means Death", and I could easily have read it in one sitting, if work and sleep hadn't gotten in the way.


Eight Cousins - L.M. Alcott*, 4/5, Audiobook ~8hrs
Rose In Bloom - L.M. Alcott*, 3.5/5, Audiobook ~10hrs
The Rose series still makes for an adorable story. It doesn't suffer from the same moral anecdotes as "Jack and Jill" and deserves to be quite as well known as "Little Women" because IMHO it's just as charming. It clearly describes the love and friendship between Rose, her seven cousins and her many aunts and uncles. One of those wonderfully old-fashioned "feel good" novels.


Books Read: 84
Pages Read: 15,233
Hours Listened To: 371
Book of the Month: Lykkeriddere - can't wait for the sequel!
Biggest Disappointment: The Survivor Wants to Die at the End - mostly because of the ending.