Tag Archives: English Novel

A Roses for the Crown by Anne Easter Smith

25 Apr

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(not really a series but kind of a series…. just go read all of them.)

Book One

Rating: Five out of Five Stars

This book. THIS BOOK. THIS FREAKING BOOK!


Anne Easter Smith, please accept my undying devotion to your authorhood. I commit to read and love all the books that you have placed in this world and shall forever be committed to praising your holy writing with reviews. I hearby swear my love for your words. Amen. 


OMG. I cannot get over how amazing this book is. After the awful YA I’ve been reading lately, this beauty was an amazing breath of fresh air. It is so magically majestic in every way. From the characters, to the pace, to the historical research, I have absolutely nothing bad to say about Smith. She should be every author’s fantasy when it comes to storytelling. 

I write this review is reverent silence because I am literally awestruck by this book. While I don’t always use gifs in reviews, I do tend to use them to lighten up a post because they make them more interesting. I cannot use a gif in this one. It would distract and demean and takeaway the pure perfection of this story. Because the main character in this book is my sister, my soulmate, and my sweet best friend. Kate, my lovely, modest, smart beautiful Kate. You are in my heart forever. Anne Easter Smith created such a perfectly simple yet complex character in Kate it breaks my heart knowing that I won’t see her again tonight when I open my book. She’s so lovingly rendered and so fully complete it’s hard for me to accept she’s fictional and not in the next room spinning some wool. I fell in love with Kate the instant I met her. And being able to follow her on her life’s journey that Smith created was the most heart-wrenching, achingly beautiful, soul-full filling, delicious mind feast I’ve had in a long, long time. 

I still smile slightly when thinking about Kate meeting Richard, giggle a little when thinking about their blissfulness, cringe when I think about all the awful things she faced. Anne Easter Smith has created a fictional character that has wormed her way into my book-loving heart and I welcome her with open arms. 

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The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

7 Feb

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Rating: Four out of Five Stars

I am a big fan of audio books. My mom, sister and I used to listen to them all the time when I was younger and since the Boyfriend and I live in different states, audio books have become a life saver on the six hour drive to Cali. Needless to say, I have spent a lot of my life in the car listening to stories (nerd-tastic fuuuur sure!) and this is probably the best book on CD have listened to.

The reason why I say The Best? The descriptions are amazing. A movie was playing in my mind while I listened to The Night Circus. It was rich, dark, luscious with adjectives that made the circus come to life, the people spring into their characters. The story unfolds layer by tantalizing layers in a slow sweet simmering plot. And, readers be warned, there is one steamy scene that is probably the most provocative heaty scene I have read (well technically listened to) and the crazy part? Its maybe four paragraphs long with relatively innocent language. That’s just how well Morgenstern crafts the language in this book. It’s beautiful.

I also spent a lot of time with my mouth hanging open in awe at the incredible concept of the plot. Talk about having a hum-dinger of an imagination! The Cirque Du Reve a.k.a. The Circus of Dreams, was so far beyond what I could ever think up I just drooled over the descriptions of the tents. The Wishing Tree, the Ice Garden, the Cloud Maze… I wish I had an ounce of artistic talent so I could draw how I picture these things. If this book ever becomes a movie and the special effects are done right, it will be on par with epic movies like LOTR, HP, Benjamin Button, all those cinematic masterpieces.

If you do end up reading this book, I encourage you to try it on tape first. It’s really an entertaining read and a wonderful book to listen to. And with Jim Dale as the narrator… oh my lovely man voice. I just want him to whisper sweet nothings in my ear…sigh…

 

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Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman

19 Nov

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Rating: Three out of Five Stars

Neil Neil Neil… the things you do to me.

My first experience with Mr. Gaiman was with Stardust. And much like my reaction to Stardust, Neverwhere completely and effectively Blew. My. Mind. I read so many YA novels when I experience a story as well written, intensely thought out and completely unique as this, my small, unfed mind can’t handle the awesomeness. It over powers me.

Basically what I am saying is that once again, Neil Gaiman creates a wonderfully different book. He has perfected the balance between WSOD and fantasy. He creates such a real picture that is so logical and yet completely absurd. Much like the other books I have read of his, I feel like the whole story I am bumping into everything in a pitch black room and then once the story ends, the light turns on and I realize that oh, this is my own damn bedroom. It suddenly all makes sense. I constantly feel I am being tossed in a hail storm of confusion but I am so ingrained into the story I just can’t stop reading and then “LIGHTBULB” it all makes sense.

I do feel like the lack of romance in this story is a detriment. He tempts and tickles us with the briefest moments of a swoonworthy story line but never gives us the whole shabang. I mean come on man! I just want a little love action!

Neverwhere is a GREAT book for fantasy lovers, especially those who enjoy urban fantasies. And I would encourage all my YA-loving friends to read this and get a dose of a truly magnificent writer.

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