becandbooks's reviews
1118 reviews

Oh this was fun!

I want it all now please and thank you.

Super bummed that my library only has the ebook copy of the first issue, now need to see what I can and can't chase down.

I love love love the characters so far. In particular, Mal, Molly and Rosie. But really I just love all of them.

Can I have the next issue now?



More reviews | Twitter | Pinterest | The world was hers for the reading. (B. Smith)

This anthology. Hm.

I struggled with a lot of stories in this anthology. But there were also some gems.
Also, I should say that I pretty much did not read any of the booktube articles included in the book. They didn't interest me at all and just felt completely out of place imo.


The Blood of Imuriv by Renée Ahdieh 0/5
I have never liked Ahdieh's writing and this was no exception. I also just DID NOT GET THIS STORY.

Jack by Ameriie 1/5
At least this story made sense. But I wasn't interested in the story or the relationship. I did kinda like the ending though.

Gwen and Art and Lance by Soman Chainan 1/5
This was mildly entertaining. Extremely mild. It was also super cliche and meh.

Shirley & Jim by Susan Dennard 3/5
I liked the concept of this story. I don't think it was written in the most entertaining way. It still dragged a lot for a short story.

The Blessings of Little Wants by Sarah Enni 2/5
I LOVED the world building in this story. And I thought I was liking it and then I got to the end and it just didn't work for me. Also took me a good 15 minutes to figure out what had really happened.

The Sea Witch by Marissa Meyer 3.5/5
I don't know if it was the story choice or the writing, but this story felt very Disney-esque. Which is something I really enjoyed. I also really loved the retelling twist this story gave.

Beautiful Venom by Cindy Pon 5/5
TW: rape scene

This story is honestly the only reason I would recommend this book. This is the best retelling of a villain I have ever come across. It is written so beautifully and portrays such a great story about the truth behind the veil. Amazing representation of a sexual assault victim. And I actually read and mildly enjoyed the booktube discussion for this story.

Death Knell by Victoria Schwab 5/5
I have never read Schwab before (I know *shock horror*) and this story convinced me that I am truly missing out on so much. This story has so much freaking atmosphere. Absolutely loved the creep-factor.

Marigold by Samantha Shannon DNF
Just no. I stopped at the lines "Girls, it seemed, were just like magpies". Do we actually have to deal with this idea that females are defenseless against shiny things? Puhlease.

You, You, It's All About You by Adam Silvera 2.5/5
I didn't mind this story. Not completely riveting, but entertaining.




And that was where I stopped reading. The book was due back to the library and honestly I had very little motivation to finish it. Apologies to the following stories: Julian Breaks Every Rule by Andrew Smith, Indigo and Shade by April Genevieve Tucholke and Sera by Nicola Yoon. You may or may not have been good. Either way, you were let down by a lot of the stories before you.

Trigger warning: sexual abuse, physical abuse, emotional abuse, murder

Mary killed a baby. Allegedly.

This book is intense. It brings up so many issues that I appreciate it so so much. If anyone needs a really good discussion book this is it. Just beware of the feelings okay?

Mary's story is one that would make many people curl up into a fetus position and never get up again. She has been convicted for murdering an infant. She lives in a group home run by an overweight demanding woman and a number of incredibly violent and relentless young women. She has to sneak around with her boyfriend Ted.

And then she gets pregnant. Which is a whole can of worms for any 15 year old, let alone someone in Mary's position.

Her circumstances are presented in such a raw, unforgiving, no sh** way that it's admirable. Because this is a life lived by some people and nobody needs to sugar coat it.

I personally found a little slow and am glad that I read this one as the audiobook version. The narrator is truly great at her rendition of the story.

There is also an event near the end

Spoiler

involving New Girl and a set of stairs

that kinda threw me off a little. It felt a bit forced and the plot was too distracting from the main storyline for me.

Though the actual ending was perfectly executed in my opinion. I thought it truly brought home all the conflicted, ugly feelings this book is forcing you to experience.

A truly good book about the child protection system, juvenile justice, and the American justice system.

See my full review and more over at my blog!.

TW: racial discrimination/slurs, violence
Note: To be completely transparent, as a caucasian reviewer I cannot comment on the accuracy of the events/feelings/responses that occur in this book. This book has, however, rocked me in a way that I want to encourage others to experience.

"What do I do when my very identity is being mocked by people who refuse to admit there’s a problem?"

Read. This. Book.





More reviews | Twitter | Pinterest | People who deny the existence of dragons are often eaten by dragons. From within. (U.K. Le Guin)

I received this ARC for NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. A big thank you to Mary Watson and Bloomsbury Publishing!

"My mother left when I was a baby. I was named Wren for the druid bird. My first memory is of trees. I am an auger with a spinny eye, which is a curse, not a blessing. I am here to steal from you. I love peanut butter and running in the woods, but never with the boys behind me"

Overall this book did capture me into a world of darkness, magic, and treachery. Unfortunately, something about the execution of this debut was mildly off-putting to me.

There is something about urban, modern fantasies that I find difficult. The ability to inject a true sense of magic and fantasy into a modern, coffee- and bus-filled setting is not the easiest task. And sometimes Watson found the key to this, and sometimes it just wasn't quite working for me.

The Wren Hunt occurs between several different settings - the small village in which the magic is well and truly present, alive with rituals and old tales; the travel through the city, full of buses, cell phones, and typical modern coffee shops; and then Harkness House, where the magical and the modern converge in this old-fashioned art foundation setting.

I enjoyed and appreciated the contrast between the settings, however, at times it threw off the fluid story-telling and felt a little out-of-place and disjointed. In a modern world in which there was a secret magical conflict occurring, it seemed odd to suddenly be on a bus after finishing a magic ritual in the woods. The writing style was sometimes too jarring between these scenes to be comfortable.

"In the garden, I had the most extraordinary desire to put my tongue to the wet mulched leaves. I was surprised by their cool, refreshing tang"

Almost every character in this book has this big, dark cloud of mystery hanging just above their fictional heads. This is something that did draw me into the story.

I adored Maeve and her motherly instincts and even Smith with his gruff grandfatherly protectiveness. The entire auger clan were very homey and exactly what you expect from people in a village that practice rituals.

The judges are not all as sinister as you would expect them to be. There is a crispness and an authoritarian vibe across all the judge characters, even Tarc who quickly becomes a part of the very typical Romeo & Juliet trope. Which, by the way, I didn't mind. I appreciated the romance, but it wasn't something I was sobbing over.

But across all the characters there was always something not quite comfortable, which made it difficult to really appreciate the characters in an intimate way.

"The wran, the wran, the king of all birds,
On St Stephen's Day was caught in the furze.
Her clothes were all torn, her shoes all worn,
We chased her all night, right through until dawn."

There is a gorgeous creepy, unsettling darkness across this entire book which I adored. If anything, this book has some seriously great atmosphere. But overall, it was just a little too slow and incohesive for me to truly love.



Full review | More reviews | Twitter | Pinterest | People who deny the existence of dragons are often eaten by dragons. From within. (U.K. Le Guin)

Actual rating: 3.5

I really enjoyed this book.

“When we allow ourselves to explore, we discover destinations that were never on our map.”

The part of me that loves Indiana Jones, and solving puzzles in temples and crypts, and a race against time to get an ultimate goal, adventure books was so so happy to be able to embrace this in a YA style! It was fun, it was entertaining, there were boulders and spikes and explosions and aliens. there was no way I could hate the book.

BUT.

For everything that it was, it was also the slowest-paced adventure book I think I've ever read.

Maybe it was because there is a lot of info dump conversations, because we need to know the whole background about the aliens and human life and why the hell two kids are traipsing around a planet by themselves.

Maybe it was because there was a lot of physical ground to cover because they basically walk across half the freaking planet.

Maybe it was because a lot of the puzzles kinda sucked? I had high expectations on this aspect from reading adventure books where the puzzles engaged the reader as well as the characters and perhaps that's my fault for pushing my own personal agenda. But honestly, listening to a kid read glyphs in a language I don't understand isn't overly riveting.

“This isn't some after-school feel-good movie special.”

About halfway through the book everything picks up though and you really start to feel the action/adventure side of the book. There were quite a few turns that I did not see coming which is always worth applauding.

And the ending. While I'm going to brace myself for pacing that may not be my favourite I will be reading the sequel because I wanna know what the hell happens.

And everything else I enjoyed. It was good and entertaining but for me that was about it.

“We may be the only ones who think that braving a series of crumbling death traps is proof of good decision making.”

I liked the characters a lot more as individuals than I did together. I loved the contrast between their motivations and how there own problems (literally) worlds away still impacted on everything they were attempting to do.

There was something satisfying about the way the two interacted in the good and the bad. But it also didn't fill me with overwhelming emotions or necessarily have me rooting for them either. I am truly hoping that the characters have a chance to develop into something more intimate for the reader in the sequel.

All in all, consider me entertained. While some bits were slower than I would have liked, I enjoyed everything that happened and really want to see where Spooner and Kaufman take it next.




Full review | More reviews | Twitter | Pinterest | Books gnaw at me from around the edges of my life, demanding more time and attention. I am always left hungry. (P. Paul)

TW: suicide attempts, suicide, depression, anxiety, self-injury


Yes, yes, yes! This is a truly great YA mental health that deserves many stars for many many reasons.

I'm going to quickly preface this review by saying that I'm counting this as an ownvoices review as I have personal experience with depression, anxiety, self-injury, and the loss of a friend via suicide.

With that said, there is so much of this book that made me cheer from the inside because of just really excellent rep.

"I don't think any of us are normal. We've all got shit going on, but we're all trying to convince each other that we're normal. I think it's fucked. I think it would be so much better if we were all just more honest and said when things were bad, or that we weren't okay or we were sick or we were happy or whatever."

First off, depression/anxiety rep was really, really great. Gideon has a history of depression, anxiety, and self-injury, a god-awful cocktail that I know too well. This book touches on so many fine points often missed in mental health lit - keeping all of one's feelings and actions a secret, the inward struggle, feeling overwhelmingly guilty and awful and sad sometimes for no apparent reason, the feeling of 2 steps forward and 12 back. It was just all really well done.

At times I felt the anxiety rep was a little overdone, Gideon's journey with his anxiety felt a little unrealistic as far as how he developed, feeling mildly like he jumped from one extreme to the other by the end of the book. However, the representation of Gideon's thought processes was great.

And here is something I'm shouting about: few YA mental health books give fantastic representation of family and friends that are aware of someone's mental health like this book. The interaction, the checking-in, the sometimes over-protectiveness and how infuriating this can be for the mentally ill was fantastically accurate.

Another thing I'm cheering for? The therapy rep! Way too often therapists are only depicted as clinical and pill-pushing and yet this book had a fantastic mix of both. It touched on the shopping for a GOOD therapist that suits the client, it discussed more than one type of therapy, it rep'd positive medication use. I honestly thought the therapy rep was absolute stellar in this book and authors should follow this example.

Ava's grief for the death/suicide of her best friend was raw and messy and in many ways spot on. There is no sugar-coating the experience. Ava makes a lot of dumb mistakes, is overwhelmed with feelings, and struggles to find a way to move on. This is real and emotional to read and why I thought it was so great.

The interaction between the MCs as well was incredible! I went through so many emotions from laughing to crying to shock and horror. I love books with feelings and if you do too you need to pick this book up.

“I just smiled and said nothing, because that's what I do.”

In among all these wonderful, glorious components there were some points where I wanted more, leaving this book short of a five star review.

I wish the author explored more about Kelly's suicide attempts. It's mentioned that it was an ongoing issue, but very little was truly discussed. I understand this was to focus the story instead on Ava and her journey, however I feel expansion on this topic would have only brought more depth and complex to how Ava viewed Kelly's death.

Another thing I wish the author explored more was Gideon's self-injury. There is no direct discussion about this in a present-day sense. Gideon discusses what and why he did it. But that's about it.

Self-injury is very much addictive and I'm disappointed that this wasn't explored more - with all the stressful events Gideon deals with, I feel as though a more realistic and complete rep would have been explored the thoughts or emotions pulling Gideon back towards self-injury. I feel as though Christian missed an incredibly opportunity to bring this discussion to the forefront.

The final thing - something about the writing and the story left me wanting a little more. The plot line itself was fairly predictable with the author letting the reader to instead be thrown headfirst into an emotional roller coaster, rather than putting forth an original story line.

All in all though this is a fantastic mental health book that I recommend to anyone who has been previously disappointed by depression, anxiety, or grief rep in the past.



More reviews | Twitter | Pinterest | The world was hers for the reading. (B. Smith)

I received this ARC for NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. A big thank you to Tanglewood Press!


This was just a fun book.

806 reads like a comedy movie. Something like 'Are We There Yet?' or 'RV. But with a character that really, honestly reminded me of Russell Brand. Which, let's be honest, I didn't hate that.

There is a lot of cliche in this book. From the road-trip, to the wildly unbelievable events that occur along the way, to the super quirky characters, and the bonding between three people who would ever otherwise get to know each other like they do.

It's sweet and endearing and chockers full of quirky characters. I laughed aloud a fair bit, sometimes because of the cliches or just the insaneness of the story.

"I was getting dressed for school while watching The Today Show and this dude came on who was a sperm donor. He was interviewed with some of his kids he had fathered who had found him. He was handsome and smart and glad his kids had gotten in touch with him. They were like some kind of spermy Brady Bunch"

Despite that it all, it was heartfelt. I did not have mega feels for any of the characters. It's just not that type of book. But overall it left you feeling a little warm and fuzzy.

I love the idea of exploring a concept such as wanting to meet a biological parent. While this is something I have no personal experience in, I felt this was handled in a 'perfect' way. It wasn't realistic, it's more the dream of what someone would wish to happen. I found this disappointing. I was hoping the issue would be addressed in a more serious and complex way. Apart from being a basis for the story, it wasn't discussed in any real depth.

The ending as well was just deflating and completely beyond the realm of what would have happened had this been a real story. While I was entertained by the story, the ending left the entire book in a puddle of spoofy cliches.

"It was a moment no one could miss. It was a real connection. It was magic."

Overall, it was a fun and entertaining read. But there was nothing special beyond that. Just don't go into it expecting an in-depth contemporary following an important issue.



Full review | More reviews | Twitter | Pinterest | One must always be careful of books and what is inside them, for words have the power to change us. (C. Clare)

Such a good freaking classic book.

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25/01/18: 4 Stars
08/03/16: 3 Stars