Shut Up & Read

3.5* review

Revisado: 05-29-18

The premise of this book sounded really promising but this was definitely a case where the first part lacked a lot. It was slow, it was confusing and I honestly did not like the narrator at all. To be frank, I found the narrator’s wailing voice to be a bit much. Okay, she wasn’t supposed to be wailing – she was supposed to be yelling someone’s name but to me, it sounded like wailing and I could not get into it. It took me almost three quarters of the book to finally start to enjoy the story.

The main thing that drew me in was how Arthur and Camelot was interwoven into the storyline. I really enjoyed the story of Camelot growing up so this premise really drew me in. I also thought it was a unique spin for Guinevere because she was always portrayed as this regal Queen (though there are mixed stories about her loyalty to Arthur and her betrayal for Lancelot). To me, I found interesting that in this book, she was losing her mind.

Another aspect that I found intriguing was Elaina’s part. I am not really familiar with the Lady of Shalott but I liked how Elaina’s predicament was somewhat similar with Rapunzel. The whole idea of being locked up in a tower and only having this old sorceress/witch as her captor. Then there was that whole situation with a man climbing up the tower to rescue her. Sounds familiar? So anyways, I thought I liked the idea of this strange mix-mash of a beloved Disney fairytale with the ballad of “The Lady of Shalott” as well as the court of Camelot.

Anyways, there was a lot of world-building in this book to the point that it was a little too much and therefore it ended up making the book way too slow in my opinion. However, the ending more than made up for it hence why I ended up giving it a 3.5* instead of 3*.

The one thing that bothered me, to be honest, other than the narrator’s voice, was the female representation in the book. Both Elaina and Guinevere were portrayed as such weak people. I think if I had read the book in a physical format, it might have been a bit different because the narrator really played out those scenes with those “OMG, I can’t move” or “OMG, what do I do” or “OMG, my eyes won’t open”, or “OMG, it’s not me!” etc. For me, it was even more bothersome because the Guinevere that I know in the Arthurian legends is supposed to be this strong female leader but in this book, that wasn’t the case at all. Instead, she came off as weak and was always struggling with herself.

Overall though, the ending was decent and I still enjoyed the parts where Arthur and Merlin were there. I actually really liked them for the most part. But I can completely forego that narrator.

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esto le resultó útil a 2 personas

3.5* review!

Revisado: 03-17-18

I remember really, really enjoying the first book in this series and was actually trying to find the second book to pick up (none of my libraries carried it) when I saw that the second book was also going to be available for an audiobook blog tour so I snapped it up. Honestly, I think I enjoyed the first book a lot more. This one was also good but somehow I just didn’t find myself as engaged as I was in the previous novel. I found myself often distracted and lost in the plot and it took me a long while before I found myself immersed into the story again.

I still enjoyed the major characters (Neil, Lily, Darius and Rhys) and was glad to see them working well together and learning to trust one another more despite growing up hating each other’s’ families. I thought that showed a lot of maturity on their end and really liked that aspect of the character development.

The main reason why I didn’t enjoy this book as much as I did for the first book was because a lot more characters were introduced and the author allowed almost all of them to have their own POV so it ended up becoming more distracting for me as a reader. And since I had listened to this book via an audiobook, too many POVs and not enough distinction between the characters can be really hard to navigate. This is probably the main reason why I found myself getting distracted a lot and being lost. I liked the new characters but didn’t really see a need for them to have their own POVs at time.

As for the plot, I am glad to find the plot growing more and more complex with the new Lightborns coming into play and realizing that there weren’t just 3 families. It is definitely getting more intriguing and I’m excited to read the third book (if it shows up in my library at some point).

Overall, I’m definitely invested to see how Neil Vapros will become this “savior” and how everyone else will turn out.

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Interesting story overall and good characters

Revisado: 02-16-18

Witch for Hire:
A 3.5* review. I received this book via an audiobook as a promotion for doing a blog tour. That being said, an audiobook can definitely influence my perception on the book as a whole.

When I first started this book, the narrator had a very grating voice which was not a good start for me. It was this weird, awkward falsetto that really annoyed me to no end. The main character is female yet for some reason, the narrator was male who tried way too hard to sound feminine but failed miserably. It took quite a while for me to finally get somewhat used to that voice before I could really enjoy the book.

However, once I managed to put that aside, I started to get into the plot and the characters. I found myself enjoying the story immensely. I liked learning about Michelle and seeing how she goes about to solving all of these problems from the police. The other character, Elron, is also a favorite of mine. The squabbles that he and Michelle goes through are hilarious and entertaining but at this point, there aren’t too many interactions between the two. However, you can definitely tell that there is tension, the good kind, between them.

What I enjoy most about the book is all of the magical creatures involved. There are elves, demons, unicorns, gargoyles, etc. and I love books like these where there is a plethora of various creatures. And with Michelle’s work as a consultant for the police, she gets right in the middle of various issues and for this book, it mostly focused on trolls.

At this point, I have finished the first three books and I have to say that the first one is probably the least interesting just because there is a lot of buildup with the characters and plot. That’s not saying that the first book isn’t entertaining on its own but out of the three, I would consider this book as mostly meant for world-building.

Overall, I did find this book an interesting read and I can’t wait to find out what the rest of the series has in store for Michelle (and Elron, hopefully).

Witch's Path:
The best part of this book was by far the T-Rex. It came as a shock to me that this creature even existed despite the fact that it technically wasn’t alive but still. At first, I was more surprised that this T-Rex showed up and the best part came when Michelle “adopted” it and described it as the world’s largest dog but with a much greater intelligence level.

Other than that exciting tidbit, I enjoyed the book a lot. I’m glad that the relationship between Elron and Michelle are slowly developing into something more that it can actually be seen as realistic. They’re getting to know each other slowly and they’re starting to like what they see in the other. Or at least, in Michelle’s case, she’s starting to appreciate his help and interference more.

My favorite part is still Michelle’s job and how she navigates various different crazy situations and how almost all of them entails some magical creature. I really enjoy how the plot isn’t one-dimensional as in there are multiple layers. There is obviously Michelle’s job and the everyday – almost average – problems, then there are the more serious ones such as the abduction of her best friend, and finally, as the plot and book continues, there is an inkling that some far more dangerous is at play (i.e. evil sorceress wanting her dead, etc.)

I’m really excited to see how the third book develops and what happens when the power behind the sorceress is revealed and what that means for Michelle.

Witch's Trial:
I love how fun and entertaining these books are – it’s perfect for the days when you just want to zone out and not have to think too hard in terms of what’s going to happen next for thrillers or lots of heart anxieties with those romances.

Michelle is such an interesting person – she’s well-rounded which I really like. I also like how she’s managing to gather a groupie without even realizing which includes creatures such as mermaids, gargoyles, werewolves, brownies, elves, dinosaurs, etc. She’s also incredibly powerful and I like the plot arcs that discusses her background and her family. The side plot with the other witch clans vying for her attention is pretty hilarious yet frustrating for Michelle.

I also like Elron’s character a bit more in this book. There are still a few times when I find him awkward but that’s to be expected since he is 1500 years old and is a bit ignorant of modern ways such as using the plants to spy on Michelle as a way to protect her. Michelle is a witch and is really powerful so she is more than capable of protecting herself but I guess for Elron, he just wants some reassurance.

When the whole demon situation is revealed, I can’t say I was too surprised. However, I was definitely surprised as to who the demon was using as its host body but I did have a slight inkling at the end of book two. I am glad though that despite everything, I think that Elron and Michelle will come out of it fine in the next book. The good thing about being so old is that you become wiser and Elron is definitely that.

Overall, I really enjoyed myself with this book. I think I will try to finish the rest of the series but not in audiobook format since at the end of the day, I’m just not a huge fan of a man speaking in falsetto and listening to it for 22 hours.

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