Hello everyone! Belated Happy Holidays! I hope you all had an amazing time with your loved ones. (I sure did.) :D
Anyway, the last time I was on here I did a bulk review instead of individual ones. I believe I titled it Backlog Reviews then. LOL. It fit then but since I decided I’ll be doing this type of reviews more regularly, I figured it would need a more formal name, hence, the title of today’s reviews. Unfortunately, I couldn’t come up with a wittier title. Sad. Even sadder is the fact that I’m planning to title my second batch of reviews (i.e. the one for the books I’ve read during my Christmas Break) “REVIEW: Holidays Reads 2017” because apparently, I have no originality. MEH.
CROOKED KINGDOM – Leigh Bardugo
“Kaz Brekker and his crew have just pulled off a heist so daring even they didn’t think they’d survive. But instead of divvying up a fat reward, they’re right back to fighting for their lives. Double-crossed and badly weakened, the crew is low on resources, allies, and hope. As powerful forces form around the world descend upon Ketterdam to root out the secrets of the dangerous drug known as jurda parem, old rivals and new enemies emerge to challenge Kaz’s cunning and test the team’s fragile loyalties. A war will be waged on the city’s dark and twisting streets – a battle for revenge and redemption that will decide the fate of the Grisha world.
*NOTE: Summary lifted from back cover of the book.
This. Was. AMAZING you guys. I just cannot put into words how much I liked this book. I’ve read the first one, obviously, which I’ve also done a review on before. But unlike the last time, I was 100% sure I was going to like this one. And I did. The first book was nice too but this just blew it out of the water. For one thing, you get to see more of the characters’ back stories. You get to see them grow and mature by themselves and, more importantly, as a team. You also get to see each of them get closure. Like, ohmygosh you guys. I cannot stress how important this is for me when I’m this invested in a book. And I get so frustrated every time it doesn’t happen or when it isn’t done properly. I mean, come on. Good guys deserve some happy endings y’know. And the bad guys deserve some retribution, which, btw, is another thing I liked about this book. See, the first book kind of leaves you feeling…lost? Cheated? So you open the second book hoping for revenge right? Right. Because you will get it. I promise. It wasn’t easy getting there, of course, but sharing any more than that would be spoiling the story already. ;)
BOOKWORM RATING (5/5): 
CAREER OF EVIL – Robert Galbraith (JK Rowling)
“When a mysterious package is delivered to Robin Ellacott, she is horrified to discover that it contains a woman’s severed leg. Her boss, private detective Cormoran Strike, is less surprised but no less alarmed. There are four people form his past who he thinks could be responsible – and Strike knows that any one of them is capable of sustained and unspeakable brutality. With the police focusing on the one suspect Strike is increasingly sure is not the perpetrator, he and Robin take matters into their own hands and delve into the dark and twisted world of the three other men. But as more horrendous acts occur, time is running out….”
*NOTE: Summary lifted from back cover of the book.
If you’ve been following this blog for a while now, you know that I’ve written reviews on the first two books of the series: here and here. As it is, I can’t really say much that I haven’t said before (I know because I reviewed *heh* the reviews I did on the last two books.), except maybe that you finally get that sense of danger you usually expect to find in a mystery novel. It was still kind of boring though. I mean, it’s not like Strike is meant to be an uber sharp detective who’s like two steps ahead of everyone. The novel itself isn’t really meant to be a battle of wits sort of story. It really is your typical mystery novel where the protagonist doesn’t realize who the villain is until the last possible moment. Then again, neither did I. I had my suspect of course. But I was wrong. Again. (-_-)
BOOKWORM RATING (3/5):
ELEANOR AND PARK – Rainbow Rowell
“Set over the course of one school year in 1986, this is the story of two star-crossed misfits – smart enough to know that first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try. When Eleanor meets Park, you’ll remember your own first love – and just how hard it pulled you under.”
*NOTE: Summary lifted from book jacket.
LOL. Okay. I’m starting to see a pattern here. Have you guys noticed how the first two books were written an author I already have books by? The last book in this review series too. Haha!
Anyway, I have like three out of the five full-length books Rainbow Rowell has out already and I loved every single one of them. I didn’t really like the summary of the two I left out so I didn’t bother getting them. BUT. I was coming up with a Christmas wishlist two years ago when I came across this one and I thought I should give this one a chance and maybe, just maybe, I would like as much as I did the others. Yeah, no. I mean, I didn’t hate it. I just thought that for a book that catapulted its author to success, it would have been more…extraordinary? Instead, it was just your run of the mill boy-meets-girl story. Granted, it tackles a topic that most others will and do not. And so sensitively too. So good job on that one. :)
BOOKWORM RATING (2/5):
P.S.: I came across her short stories in the book store one time too, btw. And I’ll have you know, it was crazy expensive. It was around upwards of P400 I think. For a tiny tiny book. I mean, it was illustrated, but still. I would have paid P150, max. And I still would have thought it was expensive.
TALES OF THE PECULIAR – Ransom Riggs
“Wealthy cannibals who dine on the discarded limbs of peculiars. A fork-tongued princess. The origins of the first ymbryne. These are but a few of the truly brilliant and haunting stories in Tales of the Peculiar – known to hide information about the peculiar world.”
*NOTE: Summary lifted from back cover of the book.
I told you. Haha!
This last book is meant to be a companion book to the Peculiar Children Series. And yes, I totally just had to have this to complete the set. Lol. I still did read it though. And to be honest, I was expecting…more. Like, literally, more. I mean, the stories themselves were good. It’s just that, Hollow City made out this book to be ginormous. But I open it and there are like ten stories. I just, I want more I guess. Hihi..
BOOKWORM RATING (2/5):
That was quick. I was expecting to finish this in like a week. Haha! But here we are. I still have to put up my Holiday Reads one so look out for than one. Hopefully, I finish it as fast as this one. :P
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