PAWN by Aimee Carter

(Review originally posted to my Goodreads on November 9th)

DNF on page 127

Due to this being a DNF, I will not be issuing a rating, though if I did, it would be very low.

This has to be one of the most insufferable books I have ever read. The main character was about as entertaining as a carpet, and the other characters were not much better. Everyone was so DULL, and there were some word choices that just brought me out of the story.
This has been on my TBR shelf for a really long time, and I began buddy reading them with my friend who managed to soldier on and finish it, but quite frankly I don't think my sanity can handle it.

Kitty was the main issue. For one thing... who names their supposedly badass heroine Kitty. Literally the only character named Kitty I can handle is Kitty Pryde, and even then she isn't my favorite. For another, she was like a chalk outline of what a character should be. It felt as though the author merely took the tropes that were popular at the time this was published (2013) and tossed them all together to create this mess.
She was obedient, weak-willed, and cowardly. But one of these side characters had the nerve to call her spunky.... Honey, a wet SPONGE is spunkier than she'll ever be.
Other than that, none of the other characters were memorable, and Daxton felt like a one of those mustache twirling villains. Completely unbelievable as anything other than a caricature, of which the same can be said of all of these characters.

The entire plot hinged on this, I guess, political intrigue and whether or not Kitty will become embroiled in this rebellion (it's not a spoiler! It's in the synopsis!), and quite frankly, I couldn't care less.
It felt non-existent and thin, like the author had a vague idea for a plot, but wasn't sure how to execute it. It didn't feel as though there were any stakes, and nothing about it intrigues me enough to complete it.
The idea behind the world was interesting, I guess, but I feel like this could have been executed so much better. I have read Carter's "The Goddess Test" but I'm sad to say this book has made me rethink what I thought about that novel.
She had an idea, but it was not executed as well as it could have been, I'm sorry to say.

Basically, it just felt as if the author wasn't sure what to write so she just did this, with numerous conveniences piling up on one another with some of the laziest writing I have ever had the misfortune to read. The characters are bland and emotionless, the plot is dry, and I really don't care about anything to do with this world. I have no interest in any of the sequels AT ALL.

I know this review has been harsh, but I'm just disappointed. I wouldn't go so far as to say I had particularly high expectations, but that just shows how, even with low expectations, I was extremely disappointed. It was tedious and melodramatic and I am glad that I never have to think about this world ever again.

FRESHWATER by Akwaeke Emezi

(This review is originally posted on my Goodreads account)

I keep wavering on my rating, I think I'll set it as 3.5, but that might change.
This was a strange book and a difficult one to rate, let alone review. I also am aware that this is an autobiographical/semi-autobiographical (unsure exactly which one) novel. Which makes this a little more difficult to rate & review, honestly.

(There are probably spoilers ahead. Be warned)

TW: sexual assault; self-harm; child sexual abuse; physical abuse.


First of all, I want to forewarn you that I suck at reviews, and this one is going to be kind of all over the place. This was an intense book, and honestly, the first chunk, though my favorite, is kind of a blur at this moment in time.

There were some things that stuck out to me, that struck me as odd and took me out of the story, but I didn't take notes so I can't remember them. Oops.
There were some odd phrasings and sentences, which COULD have just been the format in which I was reading it. I checked this out of my library as an ebook and noticed the oddities, which made me check out the physical copy as well just to be sure. But some of the phrasings (none of which I can think of at this point in time, naturally) did take me out of the story, and I was unsure of who was speaking in some cases, which, given that there isn't a lot of dialogue in this novel to begin with, was amazing. It took away a little of my enjoyment, but I still liked the book.

As stated above, this was an intense book, but there were some areas that were messy and felt disjointed as a result; however, given what Ada was going through, it seemed as if the author may have been trying to imply the sensation of spiraling that Ada was most likely feeling. I'm not sure if the author was or wasn't attempting to do this, but if so, then they succeeded.

Some of the characters felt like they weren't fully developed, and though that could have just been telling of the Ada's mental state (...and my calling her "the Ada" was NOT intentional by the way lol) it felt odd, especially given how we were TOLD that Ada loved some of these characters, or was fond of them, yet we were never given the chance to SEE that.

I adored the first half of this book, devouring every word. That first half alone would have been a full 5 stars - more if possible. It was so interesting to read, and I loved the language that was used, the visuals. Something to note, however, is that despite Ada being the main character, we rarely see her POV.
Unfortunately, when Ashugara entered the picture in the second half and the "We" chapters became less frequent, the spark that captivated me in the first half seemed to fade. It was still a hard book to put down, but it was becoming tedious almost because Ashugara was so single-minded in her desires. And I did not like how it kind of devolved from this beautiful novel to sex. (It wasn't just sex, but it definitely was at the forefront for this last half.)
The final chapter did redeem it somewhat, and it felt like it came full circle, back to the chapters I liked.

There were also certain things that were mentioned that I would have liked to explore more, or at least to have SEEN. Some chapters would mention something offhanded, almost casually, and then move on very quickly, almost choppily.

Like I said above, Freshwater is a difficult book to review, and I don't think I did it justice. If I could sum it up, I would say that even though there were some sections that seemed to lose the spark that attracted me in the beginning, I absolutely did enjoy the majority of this book and will most likely re-read it in the future, if only to try to pick up on some things I'm sure I missed this time. If and when I do, I will try to take more notes. But these are my overall impressions after closing it for the first time less than half an hour ago.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. While it was different from what I typically reach for, I was entranced the entire time I was reading it.

THE SILENT PATIENT by Alex Michaelides

(This review was first posting to my Goodreads account in July. Again, there is a reason this is called The Forgotten Blog)


This was such a hard book to rate, but I think I'm going to just go with my initial rating while I had been reading, which was 3.5.

This was a very interesting book. I don't normally pick up thrillers, let alone psychological ones, so I'm wondering how much of that influenced my reading experience.
I will say, that this author has a clear voice, and I could see everything vividly. However, I felt like the characters fell into categories (the bitchy boss, the smug rival, the quirky mentor, etc.) and, while they felt like real people, in a way it felt like they were filling a mould, and not really allowed to be PEOPLE, if that makes any sense.
They seemed to lack something, some kind of spark that brought them truly to life, separated them from the clichés they filled and prevented me from truly connecting to any of them, or even really caring about what happened beyond finding out why Alicia wouldn't speak and what exactly had happened that night.

There were things that bothered me about the portrayal of the mental illness in this book, but as I have no knowledge of any of the illnesses described and/or hinted at, I have no way of knowing if they were accurate or insulting, so I'll just leave it at that.

There were some instances, particularly where the psychiatric facility was concerned, that I found myself raising an eyebrow in disbelief. I highly doubt that mentally ill patients are allowed the free rein the ones at the Grove seemed to have. I have no knowledge of mental health facilities or anything of the like, but I doubt they would allow patients to smoke and wander around with seemingly no supervision other than the occasional nurse. I do think that the Grove was mentioned at one point as being a little decrepit and slack in some areas, or at least I think it was hinted. I finished it last night in kind of a daze, to be perfectly honest lol.

I enjoyed the ending, though. It's part of why I am so torn on how to rate this, and threw my perspective of this book and its narrative off balance, to which I tip my hat (well, if I had a hat) to the author for accomplishing. I had spoiled myself on the twist, but it was done in such a way that I didn't feel like I lost much. I also felt as though my knowing that twist allowed me to follow closer, though I might just be dense when it comes to thrillers, psychological or not.

Overall, the author has a clear voice, and definitely has talent for weaving interesting and intricate stories. Whether it compares to other thrillers, I can't say, as it's not my usual genre, but it certainly held my attention. I had started reading it slowly and then ended up reading until 5am just so I could find out what happened.

I know that most of this review has been negative, but I did enjoy this book. It was a nice, quick and easy read, which might be an odd thing to say about a psychological thriller. It's just a very tricky book for me to truly express my feelings about. I didn't love it, but I didn't hate it either. It was an okay book for me.

WHISPERS OF SHADOW & FLAME by L. Penelope

(This review was first posted on my Goodreads account in August. This blog isn't named The Forgotten Blog for nothing)

Rating: 🌟🌟🌟

I won an uncorrected proof/ARC of this book through a Goodreads giveaway, so the things that I have noted in this review may or may not be in the finished novel. This book will be released on October 1st 2019 One thing I did want to say before I get into my (hopefully) non-spoilery thoughts is that I have NOT read the first book, so I have no idea how much it influenced this one, if at all. I was not aware that this was a sequel when I entered the giveaway, but I didn't feel lost while reading, so I feel like, at least where this one is concerned, you can jump right in without being too confused about the world, other than the time period, which I do discuss briefly. First of all, I did enjoy this book, though I did find a few issues which I will jump into: -The Time Period This book didn't appear to know what time period it wanted to be in, sometimes it felt more modern, other times medieval. There were essentially CARS for crying out loud. It was quite jarring to have them be around all of this medieval stuff, and then have something like electricity (which I believe they had, but please correct me if I'm wrong) and vehicles be thrown into the mix. -Magic I did like the idea of their magic being called Songs, I felt it was unique among books with magic for that reason. Though I didn't quite understand how the Nethersong was so rare, while Earthsong was abundant, because you would think that the world would need the balance, but it was probably just something that bothered me personally lol. -Pacing/World I will say, though, that this is NOT a fast-paced book. It's not that it dragged, but it was just very slow, with not a lot of action. And when something DID happen, it was over with quickly, almost abruptly. The overall pacing of the novel, however, felt quite monotonous for most of it, though some of the action scenes did lend a bit of color, as stated earlier, they were over quite quickly. I also felt that there was quite a bit of telling when I would have preferred a bit more visuals, though the visuals we got were nice and clear, they were kind of drowned out by the overall tone of the novel. -Characters The characters were... interesting, if a bit one-dimensional at times. You could definitely tell the people who were important, and who were just... there. The story has three main view points, Darvyn, Kyara, and Zeli, with an occasional fourth, but honestly, I really didn't care for Zeli's story-line, however I am curious as to whether or not it will intersect with Darvyn's and Kyara's in a future novel. though I also felt like the romance in this book was a little on the weak side, to the point where it felt forced. I didn't feel anything between the two love interests to warrant the things they do for one another. Other than those points, I don't really have much to say (non-spoiler wise anyway) beyond the fact that, while this book wasn't perfect, I still enjoyed it. And even though it was slow, I didn't necessarily feel bored while reading, and I think that L. Penelope has a clear voice. I will say again, that this is an UNCORRECTED PROOF that I received, so there is a strong chance that the things that I took issue with will be changed for the finished product.

Core by Teshelle Combs

                                                        
                 THERE MAY BE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW. BE FOREWARNED 


I really liked this book.
It was funny, and sweet, and it was interesting.
I did have a few problems with it, which I will get into in a moment.
I loved how tough Ava was, but it bothered me how much she was unable to open up. And for someone with trust issues, she seemed to trust a little too easily at times.
I adored Cale, he was so cute when he was being protective of her (at the times when it wasn’t warranted). It bugged me that everyone was so quick to assume that sweet, honest Cale had committed the crime he was accused of, his own father disowning him without asking him whether or not it was true.
I did like the Anders, although we didn’t really get to know them all that well. Rory was probably my favorite, aside from Cale. Karma kind of annoyed me that she was so analytical all the time, and yet didn’t seem inclined to offer her opinion very often.
I felt like she could have been a really cool character, but at times it felt like she was just there to provide cold, mechanical observations and information, but the way it was handled was well done, so I didn’t not like her.
Cameron was about the same, he is probably my second favorite (or third, after Cale), as his coldness had a humor about it at times that was lacking in Karma. And I loved when he spoke with Cale, their game.
(And can we just talk about the scene where Cameron and Cale were taking turns making the bouncer at the Cave uncomfortable? I laughed so hard at that. Made me love them even more)

And now onto the things that bugged me:

1. As mentioned above, how come no one gave Cale the benefit of the doubt? Just believing the charges instantly, as his own father did. I know the charges are sort of explained at the end, but it still bothered me.
2.  The pacing felt kind of inconsistent at times, one moment they are just meeting, but in the next scene they act as though they have known each other for ages. Literally the next day Ava goes over to his house and he pulls her onto the bed with him and falls back asleep, and she just lays there and goes with it. At least she mentioned how weird it was, which I felt was the author’s way of excusing the actions at times.
3. The fight scenes. The small skirmishes and the minor battles were detailed enough to be pictured, yet the big fight scenes like the one at the Grand Nest was glossed over, as were a few others.
And that may have been due to whether or not the author was comfortable with writing fight scenes, didn’t like doing them, or just wasn’t confident in them, considering how few fight scenes there actually were.
If so, I can respect that.

There were a few typos throughout, mainly towards the beginning, which didn’t take away from the story at all, I just thought I’d mention them.

Overall, I really liked this book and I look forward to reading more about Cale and Ava in the future, as I am really curious as to where their story will go.

I am just sorry that it has taken me this long to read it. 

Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them by Newt Scamander

	Yay! Now I can ace my OWLs lol This was a really fun, easy read. I loved learning about all the Fantastic Beasts, though I was a little surprised that Boggart wasn't included, and Harry and Ron's entries were funny :D I recommend this to HP fans who want to become even more immersed in the world.

The Water is Wide by Laura Vosika

This is a hard book to review, so I’m not going to go into too much detail.

The writing was good, although there were some error’s, but there are always at least a couple, however some of them did snap me out of the story, for instance there was a line that said “We cannot we allow it!”

And there are some things that I just didn’t understand, for instance, how does one lower their eyebrows? Because near the end of the book, the author became quite fond of that phrase, as well as taking every available opportunity to mention the fact that Amy is pregnant, and yes that’s important, but I feel like it was mentioned a little more than was necessary, and at times, the way it was mentioned just felt like the author couldn’t decide what else to write.

And as for the format, it was a little unusual. The fact that it jumps time periods was fine, even the fact that it jumped perspective was okay, if a little confusing at times. What bothered me, and it didn’t even bother me that much I just thought I should mention it, was that for most of the book, it was in third person, but for the scenes that were from Amy’s perspective, it was in first person, and I didn’t understand why.

I do believe that the biggest problem that I had with this book wasn’t a problem with the book itself, but for the fact that it’s the third book in a series, and I haven’t read the first two, so whenever things were mentioned that had occurred in the previous books, I was left in the dark.

(I hadn’t realized that I needed to read them in order, though. I had thought it was more of a companion book series, than a chronological one, but I was wrong, and that was my fault.)

I didn’t really get close to any of the characters, and those that I did tended to be the side characters, like Allene, Red, as well as Eamonn, who was probably my favorite.

There were a few other problems that I had with it, but those were mainly that I didn't understand what the characters were saying when they began talking about the music stuff lol

Overall, it was an OK book, not horrible, but not my favorite.