RELICS by Tim Lebbon

Rating: 🌟🌟

DNFing at page 210

I may pick this up at a later date, but for right now I just can't. I have tried so hard to get into this book and I just can't bring myself to care about the characters.

The world was so interesting and had a lot of promise, but I'm just not impressed with the execution. So many things were bothering me, from the characters (mostly the characters), to the slow pace. Only a few pages before I DNF'd did things actually start to get interesting. Unfortunately, they weren't interesting enough to keep my interest.
Again, I may try this again at a later date, but for right now, I'm going to try and find a book I will actually enjoy.

The characters were SO 2-dimensional, they were all just focused on one thing, and while granted I can kind of understand given certain circumstances, the thoughts that would run through their heads just.. *sigh* I find it difficult to believe would ACTUALLY occur to an actual human being all things considered. 
The characters were self-centered at odd moments, and no one and I mean NOT A SOUL felt like a real person. And again, the world showed so much promise! 

COLD SUMMER by Gwen Cole

Rating: 🌟🌟

Trigger warning: PTSD (including flashbacks) This review will contain spoilers. You have been warned. First things first, the only positive thing I can think of for this book: The author's writing style. It was honestly the only thing that kept me reading, because it was very easy to read. And the only reason this book is not getting 1 star. And now onto the rest of the review: I'll just get right to it: this was one of the most frustratingly disappointing reads I've ever read. Now, I'll admit that I wasn't expecting a whole lot from this book, but I was still hoping to be pleasantly surprised. I was not. It started out alright, but just kept getting cringier and cringier as it wore on. Everything was SO melodramatic (remember that word, it comes up a lot in this review) and cliched, it's unbelievable. And quite frankly the whole book felt like shadow-puppets on a wall. The characters especially were melodramatic, bland shells of people, with only like 2 "personality" traits. And those were just the MAIN CHARACTERS! The side characters weren't as lucky, acting more like placeholders for characters than actual PEOPLE. Speaking of our protagonists though, they both annoyed me SO MUCH. The main female was just so quirky and perfect. The only person more perfect would be our "incredibly hot" male protagonist who goes by the attractive moniker Kale. (Yes, that is his actual name) There was a great deal of TELLING and not SHOWING in this novel (don't even get me started on the amount of conveniences that were stacked on top of one another), and I do think it suffered because of that. Because while we were in Harper and Kale's heads, we didn't really get much of a sense of who they were as people beyond the cliche's they embodied. And honestly, the characters were just passive, wet-blankets, just waiting for something to happen so they could react to it. And I pretty much just want to punch them all in the face and move on with my life, but first I need to finish this review lol (Also, a side-note: there is legitimately one instance where the name Harper is compared to Kale in terms of weirdness. Just let that sink in for a moment) And can we just talk about how this important plot point which is mentioned IN THE SYNOPSIS isn't even a thing until about 85% of the way through the book?! I was expecting the WWII scenes to be... more, I guess. As well as thinking that we would be trying harder to figure out WHY he's traveling to that point in the past but literally all the characters just accept it as a fact of life, and basically the entire book just felt like it was simply a way for the author to write about PTSD, by way of Kale, which I swear was his whole raison d'être. And as for the representation itself, as I don't have PTSD I can't comment on whether or not it was accurate or harmful. It certainly seemed like the author put more effort into describing the PTSD than anything else in the novel if that tells you anything. There were also several instances of missing words, and it was obvious where certain edits had occurred. One instances of this is on page 314 "I pull my shirt quick". [And another on page 295 "Perkins is already crouched into front of me, pressing his hands over the right side of my chest".  These just kept happening REPEATEDLY throughout the novel, and these moments really served to take me completely out of the story. And let me just say that I was also having an incredibly difficult time suspending my disbelief with this story. Not only can he randomly time-travel, but he can also heal incredibly fast. For some reason. Which is also not explained. Does it factor in with his time-traveling? Does traveling in time change your body or something? I mean a bullet wound heals in 3 days for crying out loud! As well as Jasper was able to steal the bullet he was shot with, stuff like that. Things that would just NOT happen in the real world.  We're just supposed to accept this but I'm not falling for your tricks, book. I'm onto you! Anyway, it's then established that Perkins was the one who wrote this important plot-related article detailing how Kale "died" saving his life. And then nothing else is mentioned about him. What was so important about Perkins that warranted sending a 17 year old to save his ass in the past? Was it just so his bloodline would endure? Who did Perkins go on to become if he was so important that Kale was forced to return to the past repeatedly for MONTHS? I thought that they were leading up to this reveal about Perkins, or his grandchildren, that perhaps they proved to be instrumental in some capacity. But that didn't happen, and it just feels like one of many missed opportunities in this book. Also, side-note, how come when Kale goes to the past he appears always in the same moment he left, but for the present he's gone for days at a time?? There were just weird time-traveling rules. As well as the fact that Kale can't control his time-traveling, knows zero to nothing about it, yet he is able to explain it to people? If I found myself randomly traveling back in time, I would NOT be able to explain logistics, yet Kale is able to explain it to Harper. [I want to put a bit of a disclaimer in here for this mention as I could have just misinterpreted this, but this sentence rubbed me the wrong way. At the end of the novel, Kale and his dad are driving home from the hospital, and they pull over and have a heart to heart. Nothing wrong with that, except that Kale's father says this: "I don't think there's anyone in the world who could have been through what you have and came out stronger in the end." It just came across as insensitive to me. And while I admit it could have just been that I took it wrong, it just didn't sit well. Overall, it was a very melodramatic, disappointing read and let's just say I am glad I'm done.

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.