January 2017 - sprinkled pages » a book and baking blog

The One Memory Of Flora Banks and A Shadow Bright And Burning | sprinkledpages

AFTER THE HOUR IT TOOK TO READ THAT LONG AS POST TITLE, LET'S GET STARTED!

Hey lovelies! Today I am here to share with you another round of mini reviews! I just started these recently and I can't help but love them! I hope you don't mind that they're a bit briefer than my other book reviews BUT I have a good reason for that!

I don't feel like I would have enough to talk about if I wrote these as seperate book reviews so instead of wasting time publishing two different posts, I thought I'd just put these two together because they both have one thing in common: they disappointed me.

THIS IS GOING TO BE SPOILER FREE, BUT BEWARE, IT CAN GET A LITTLE RANTY.

THE ONE MEMORY OF FLORA BANKS BY EMILY BARR

The One Memory Of Flora Banks | sprinkledpages

Before we begin, can I just tell you all how excited I was for this one? I had originally requested this on NetGalley and was pretty disappointed when my request was declined. So when Penguin sent it to me, I was pretty ecstatic!

The premise for this is so unique and unlike anything I've ever read before, so naturally, I was intrigued! I expected it to be a little like Everything Everything by Nicola Yoon and let me just tell you this, it was nothing like that.

THE POSITIVES

As mentioned before, the premise for this book was really, really great. I wanted to know how Flora couldn't remember things, how she remembered the kiss, what she was going to do know. It made me question a lot of things, which is exactly what a book blurb should do.

I also thought the disability was well researched (although I can't say for sure as I do not have it and don't know anyone else that does so if you do know and think it wasn't well researched, please let me know in the comments!) according to me and I learnt a bit from Flora's disability.

I thought it was quite admirable how she managed to live a normal life with that kind of disability (even if it bordered on slightly unrealistic but once again, I can't say for sure as I don't know anyone that has it and therefore I do not have first hand knowledge) using her sticky notes and the notes she wrote on her hand including a journal. It opened my eyes to how difficult memory loss is, on the person and their loved ones.

It didn't occur to me before this book what kind of person I'd be like if I didn't remember my childhood memories, memories of conversations I've had and laughter I've shared and all those good, joyous moments that have lead up to now.

I thought Flora was a pretty strong character, even though I didn't like her very much. She was calm and kind.

THE NEGATIVES

I tried so hard to get into it but I just couldn't.

The writing was awfully dry and there wasn't a consistent pace. Everything happened so suddenly. There'd be moments where the plot would be completely flat and then there'd be lots of action and then it'd go back to being flat again. There was no build up or proper explanation for the plot as well, in terms of the backstory of Flora and the revelations made throughout the book. They were meant to shock you and I think Barr expected the readers to be shocked but it honestly did nothing for me.

Also, I understand the constant repetition of the events in the book was meant to illustrate how Flora was remembering everything that had happened so far and how she was dealing with her memory loss but after a while it just got repetitive and boring.

It was also highly unrealistic at times. I don't understand how a girl could have just gone to the Arctic all by herself. I don't understand how no one would question that, I don't understand how she survived without having proper food or clothing or anything. I don't understand why she would remember a kiss, of all things. It just frustrated me above and beyond.

I couldn't connect to the characters. AT ALL. I have never felt more dispassionate towards a character as I have towards Flora. She was not at all interesting, I found her extremely annoying at times and there was absolutely no connection with the readers. The whole 'chasing after a boy' thing does not work well with me and I feel that is where the problem began.

There were times where I felt the book was trying too hard as well, if you know what I mean? It tried to focus too much on the whole 'go out and live your life' and 'be brave' which is a great message, don't get me wrong, and I loved how it encouraged those with disabilities and mental illnesses to not let it hinder them, but the way Barr went about doing it didn't really work for me. It got too cheesy at times and not in a good way.

Unfortunately for this book the negatives are more prominent than the positives, which I am quite sad to admit as I did really want to like this book, especially after hearing positive reviews from a few of my friends!

This was not for me and we'll just leave it at that!

OVERALL RATING:

★★

A SHADOW BRIGHT AND BURNING BY JESSICA CLUESS

A Shadow Bright And Burning | sprinkledpages

This was another book that I was excited for. I hadn't heard too much about the book and didn't know what it was really about other than it was a fantasy but what I had heard of it had been positive so imagine my surprise when I started to read it and didn't enjoy it at all.

Just a disclaimer, this was a DNF for me. I did not finish this book but I got to more than half way before I gave up because of how boring it was. I was dragging through it and while I may pick it up in the future to finish it off because I hate leaving things unfinished, this review will be based off what I have read. And unless the book magically get's better by the end (in which case, please do let me know) these are my thoughts on it.

THE POSITIVES

Rook is such a sweet heart! I loved him from the very beginning and I wish he was a bigger part of the book. I wanted him to literally be in every scene and it made me really sad that he was barely in the book!

I liked how it was set in the real world with Victorian London. It is rare to find fantasy and dystopian in the real world so it was pretty cool and a little bit different from the others.

Also, the cover is totally gorgeous! The designer should get a pat on the back for the amazing job they've done!

THE NEGATIVES

I feel this world is SO overdone these days! The whole society being divided, things depending on your blood etc is what most fantasy/dystopian novels are in YA these days so by the time I got to this, I wasn't really interested or surprised.

The blurb also gave away a major part of the book which only happened about half way through the book and it made me really roll my eyes at the poor planning because who does that? An event that happens half way through the book is considered part of the plot and should NOT have been on the blurb. If it had not been on the blurb, it would have been 538214659% more exciting and intriguing!

The writing was dry. BOY WAS IT DRY. It didn't pull me in. There was nothing exciting about it. It didn't develop the world, the plot and the characters at all.

There was no explanation for any of the backstory of the world. I didn't understand any of the magic systems or the society. I didn't understand what was happening in the plot and who the characters were really were and why they were there. I couldn't understand the variety of powers or the whole 'shadow bright and burning part'. Like yes, I get the 'burning' part but where is the 'shadow' part???

I didn't like the main character very much but I didn't hate her either. The only character I feel I did love was Rook and that is in the negatives because HE WAS BARELY IN THE BOOK! The only thing that got me to more than half way was the hope that I'd get another glimpse of Rook but he is in the book for literally 0.000000000000001 seconds before disappearing to god knows where.

Maybe someone else will like this better than me but there wasn't much in it for me.

OVERALL RATING:

★

Thank you to Penguin Random House for sending these two books for me to review. However, all thoughts and opinions are my own and this is an honest review.

I am sorry these two reviews have been fairly negative. I don't like being so rambly and it makes me feel really guilty for dumping all this on my blog and on the authors. I am sure these two books will be enjoyed by other people but I, unfortunately, did not enjoy these two so I really don't have many positives to talk about!

Hopefully the next review will be much more positive! Fingers crossed.

Have you read these books? What did you think?

4 happy thoughts

11 happy thoughts

Girl In Pieces and Made You Up | sprinkledpages

Mental illness is a contemporary issue that I’m found very interesting to read about as it hasn’t been brought to attention as often as I would like. Statistics say that at least 20% of adults are affected by mental illnesses every year. Anxiety disorders are the most common, then depression.

The two books I am reviewing today are amazing books on mental illness that have portrayed it so beautifully and that I have learnt so much from. I wish more books like this were written and I hope that by me talking about these books, you are encouraged to read them!

GIRL IN PIECES BY KATHLEEN GLASGOW

I had heard a lot about this book going into it. I had very high expectations for it and thought it to be like one of my favourite mental health books (and favourite books of all time!) All The Bright Places to find it wasn’t. That did make me feel a little let down but nonetheless, I did really enjoy the book!

The idea was so important and I am so grateful to Glasgow for having written a book like this, for all the girls out there who might be in the same position as the main character, Charlie. The writing was beautiful and heart wrenching and it was quite vivid in its description. I liked how Glasgow didn’t shy away from telling the truth. She unflinching and unrelenting in her recount and it created such an epic read.

The only reason I feel I was let down was because I couldn’t relate. I had not been in a situation similar to Charlie so I found it hard to connect with her and the other characters. I found because I wasn’t able to connect, I wasn’t able to enjoy the book as much as others had. I couldn’t feel deeply for the characters and at times, got a little bored because of how dry the plot became.

However, I know other people absolutely adore this book, especially if they could relate with Charlie. The only thing stopping me from giving the book five stars is the fact that I couldn’t connect, which is no way the fault of Glasgow or Charlie.

This is such a wonderful read and I hope you do pick it up because I learnt so much about it and it gave me hope!

OVERALL RATING:

★★★★

MADE YOU UP BY FRANCESCA ZAPPIA

What a beautiful book!

This had me hooked from the very first page and I managed to read it in one day, within the duration of 4 to 5 hours! It was funny, romantic, tense and mysterious.

I didn’t know anything about schizophrenia before this book so it was really great to learn so much! The idea was a new one and it was so well done.

I adored the characters. They were funny and real and I felt like I knew them in real life! They just bounced off the pages for me. (Also, can we talk about how cute Miles and Alex are? Yeah, okay, thanks!)

I wasn’t the biggest fan of the plot because I got confused and it distracted from her mental illness, which I feel could have been the bigger focus of the book, it was still highly entertaining and it had me wondering what was real and what was not.

All in all, I adored this book and I highly suggest you read it! More people need to be reading and fangirling over this book!

OVERALL RATING:

★★★★

Thanks to Harper Collins Australia for sending me these two books. However, all thoughts and opinions are my own and this is an honest review.

I hope you do pick these beautiful books up sometime or at least add them onto your TBR! And I hope you enjoyed reading my post and visit my blog again soon!

What is a good mental illness book you recommend I read? I'm always open to suggestions!

6 happy thoughts

Holiday Reading Wrap Up! | sprinkledpages

Hey lovelies!

So if you’ve been keeping up with my previous wrap ups which are the October and November wrap up, you’ll know I was on holiday during the last week of November and the entire of December of 2016!

I knew I was going to have a lot of spare time during this trip so I took A LOT of books with me to read during this period of time! And I am pretty happy with how much I read!

Let’s get started because I don’t want to waste time in the intro!

{ DIVERSITY DECEMBER BINGO READATHON BOOKS }

If you’ve been reading my previous blog posts, you’ll know how much I’ve been talking about this readathon! I did two blog posts on this already – information + my tbr where I talked about what this readathon was and the aims of it and a wrap up where I talked about what I thought of these books specifically.

To avoid being repetitive, you can read more details on those books there! However, here is a brief list of the books I did read for this diversity promoting readathon!

If I Was Your Girl
The Sun Is Also A Star (I do have a no spoiler book review for this which you may wish to read!)
Tiny Pretty Things
The Song Of Achilles
Of Fire And Stars
The Forbidden Wish
Not If I See You First
Salt To The Sea

READ MY FULL #DIVERSITYDECBINGO WRAP UP HERE FOR MYTHOUGHTS ON THESE BOOKS + MY STAR RATINGS

{ ARCs + BOOKS FOR REVIEW}

I wasn’t able to take physical review copies of books that I had received so I took ebook copies of a few review copies and mostly ARCs.

The Sun Is Also A Star (click title for no spoiler book review)

I took a lot more with me but I didn't end up reading them when I was away so I shall hopefully be reading them soon!

{ PERSONAL READING }

This is the reading I CHOSE to do without any other obligations involved!

Ruined by Amy Tintera

So I saw this book all over Instagram and finally decided to give it a try when I found it in my ebook service of my library. I had heard some mixed things about it and although it sounded interesting, I wasn’t SUPER excited to read it!

However, I was pleasantly surprised to find that I did really enjoy! It was quite entertaining! I liked the characters and the romance and the plot was easy to understand and get into. I am very excited for the next book, coming out this year!

Starbound trilogy by Megan Spooner and Amie Kaufman

So I am going to be doing a whole series review on this one, coming up very soon, so stay tuned for that for more thoughts! In the meantime though, you can always check out my Goodreads review for brief thoughts of mine!

These Broken Stars Goodreads review

This Shattered World Goodreads review

Their Fractured Light Goodreads review

Siege And Storm and Ruin And Rising by Leigh Bardugo

I have a no spoiler review for the entire trilogy going up soon so keep an eye out for that! Until then, you may want to read my Goodreads review for brief thoughts of these books! (Please note that I did not read Shadow And Bone while on holiday but thought to include the review just in case you wanted to read it!)

Shadow And Bone Goodreads review

Siege And Storm Goodreads review

Ruin And Rising Goodreads review

Furthermore by Tahereh Mafi

While I thought this was a beautiful book, it wasn’t as interesting as I hoped it would be and some parts got boring and childish, which is understandable as it is a middle grade novel intended for a younger audience. That being said, the characters were adorable and the world building and imagination put into the book is absolutely mind blowing!

Billy And Me by Giovanna Fletcher

This was a cute and enjoyable story and while I was very captivated while reading, it didn’t stick around in my mind after, unfortunately. That being said, it is the perfect fluffy and cute contemporary to sink your teeth into, especially for the summer! The characters are adorable and the plot is actually quite interesting, which always seems to be a rarity in contemporaries.

The Devil You Know by Trish Doller

I was originally really into this book. It was mysterious and intriguing and I kept guessing what the conclusion would be…only to find that I was right. I love books that keep me guessing and then prove me wrong and I feel this was just too easy and the plot wasn’t as intricately laid out as it could have been. The disappointing ending left me with meh feelings about the whole book.

And that is it! I really enjoyed the variety of books I read! I read 16 books, which I am very happy with seeing that I was quite busy! I read some super awesome books this month, which was a change from the previous month where I felt quite let down so this makes me very happy!

To keep up with what I'm currently reading and to be in the know of my thoughts of a book even BEFORE I blog about it, make sure to follow me on Goodreads!

How was your reading month?