Search

Search only in certain items:

The History of Jane Doe
The History of Jane Doe
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
I was really intrigued by the description of this book and happy when I won the chance to read and review it. The History of Jane Doe is an ode to first loves, and a journey through mental illness. It's fun, it's sad, it's heartbreaking while also being heartwarming.

Ray is a high-schooler history-buff in love with Jane. She enters his life and him and his best friend Simon are forever changed. But she hides some deep dark secrets that torment her and Ray has a hard time seeing into her head, as is usually the case when loving someone who is depressed, and he struggles to find his way through her dark past so that they can have a future. This is a history of her life, written by Ray, flipping between the past and present of one devastating day when everything changes.

Michael Belanger writes that he's experienced some painful episodes in his life, and it's evident in how eloquently he decribes feelings of sadness and darkness. I can imagine this book will make quite a few people very sad, as most everyone knows someone who suffers from depression, or anxiety, or other forms of mental illness. But I also think it will probably help just as many. I applaud him for his candor and insights into a rarely talked-about issue.

If you love 13 Reasons Why, or anything by John Green, you will love this story. The witty banter between Ray and Jane, Simon and Mary is refreshing and fun, and it's an interesting look into mental illness, how things in life can trigger it, and change a person, and and exploration of how it affects all those around you, and how even though you may think you are ending your suffering, you are ultimately just passing it on to those who loved you.

What I took away most from this is that even if you feel like you are drowning in darkness and can't see past the shadows, you never know what a light you'll be to someone else.
  
Spelled (The Storymakers, #1)
Spelled (The Storymakers, #1)
Betsy Schow | 2015 | Science Fiction/Fantasy, Young Adult (YA)
9
8.3 (4 Ratings)
Book Rating
Oh Pix this went wrong
All Dorthea ever wanted was to be free from responsibilities, free from her mother, and free from the curse. She wanted to be able to leave the Emerald Palace without everyone thinking she would turn into a wicked creature. She wanted to be able to make her own choices about the future. She mostly wanted to matter to her mother more than being the queen.

In a fit of selfish anger Dorthea attempts to make her desires come true when she uses a gift she received earlier to make a wish where she doesn't have to live up to parents' ideas, where she doesn't have to marry a prince, and everything is not how it is; however, the wishing star is cursed and it backfires tremendously. Everything is turned upside down. Magic doesn't work quite right anymore. What should be isn't and what isn't is. Her parents are gone. Her home is destroyed. She's stuck with a snarky servant, Rexi, and her betrothed, Kota, has turned into a chimera. Worst of all, Griz the Gray Witch is hunting her down.

So, Dorthea sets out to fix what she has done. The problem is knowing who she can and cannot trust. Oh, and trying to travel through the lands when the rules no longer exist. Can she or her friends survive? Are those who appear to have her best interest at heart people she can trust? Or is it those she would have previously looked down on the ones she needs to be put her life into?

Schow has a new take on fairy tales in Spelled in a world where Storymakers have written what shall and shall not be. Princess will find their Princes. The villains will always lose in the end. Yet she has made them better with her characters from well known tales we grew up with to new ones all of which bring to life the story she's written. Best of all it is filled with sass, wit, and cleverness to keep the pages turning while trying to see if Dorthea will make it to the end as the hero, dead, or wicked.

Forget what you know about Grimm and get ready for this book.
  
Wanted in Paradise
Wanted in Paradise
Kate Ashenden | 2019 | Crime, Romance
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Wanted in Paradise by Kate Ashenden is a quick-to-read romance thriller set on the tropical nation of the Maldives. The twenty-five-year-old protagonist, Jasmine Hartwell has been on a hellish journey: surviving a typhoon in the Philippines, which killed thousands of people, and quitting her job because she cannot stand the way her boss treats her. To top it off, her ex-boyfriend has disappeared, presumed dead. After sending her condolences to his good looking superstar brother, Romeo Moretti, Jasmine is offered the chance to join him in the Maldives to help set up a concert in aid of climate change.

Readers are aware that Jasmine has had a crush on Romeo since she met him five years ago but due to their current circumstances, it would not be right for them to form a relationship while her ex, Diego is still missing. That does not stop Jasmine having strong feelings for Romeo and vice versa, however, there is another love interest on the scene. The Sheikh has fallen for Jasmine but Romeo believes he is an evil character set on destroying the concert and taking over the islands. Not only does Jasmine have to contend with this love-triangle, but Romeo's publicist also seems fixed on making things unnecessarily hard for her.

It takes a while for the reader to warm to the characters, especially as the story is fast-paced. It also takes a moment to appreciate the complexities of the storyline; it is not only about romance, but it also encompasses natural disasters, the dangers of climate change and the ignorance and selfishness of those with power. By the closing chapters, readers are enthralled with the potential of a happy-ever-after but still in the knowledge that all could backfire at the last minute.

Wanted in Paradise is Kate Ashenden's debut novel, which, whilst it has room for improvement, gives a taster of her potential. It is the ideal book for those who want a quick read and to be transported to another part of the world to escape the challenged of everyday life.
  
40x40

Beth Ditto recommended Da Real World by Missy Elliott in Music (curated)

 
Da Real World by Missy Elliott
Da Real World by Missy Elliott
1999 | Rock
(0 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"That album! Oh man. Supa Dupa Fly was such a jam but Missy was just a creative fucking force when Da Real World came out. I remember she looked like Lee Bowery and her skin was painted true black, her eyebrows up to her forehead, back when videos could still be incredible videos. It was so top-of-the-line, Timbaland and Missy collaborating, and I felt like it was her time to shine as a writer and as a producer. It set the tone of that time. I was obsessed with it. 'Hot Boyz'? It is hit after hit. 'She's A Bitch'? What a jam? That was the video. She was so innovative and ahead of her fucking time. Everybody was on that, it was a family affair, but she is a genre all of her own. She is her own thing. Nobody is like Missy. She is one of those people where I'm like, sexism is alive, because if she was a man, she would be getting all of these crazy props. She's so incredible, and so underrated. Her harmonies are unbeatable. Un. Beatable. She's a maestro, a genius, a music nerd, an absolute culture nerd. And a style nerd. She's just such an icon. She was cool too. She's powerful. She is performance art, and that wasn't in hip hop at that time. And it certainly wasn't in female hip hop. The thing about Lil' Kim was that she sold sexuality and she did it so well, like no one is Lil' Kim, but Missy wasn't selling conventional sexuality, she wasn't selling female sensuality, that wasn't what she was doing, and I relate to that as a person who is big and a person who isn't attracted to conventional things. I like the weirdness, I like the things that stick out, I like things to look a little clowny, or look a little crazy and that's why she's such an icon. Same with Outkast. I think Southerners are just naturally weirder. Look at Lil' Wayne, Missy, Timberland, Outkast, Neptunes, all of those are Southerners so they're different. A different breed of rapper."

Source