Here’s something you should know about me: I’m a fan of children’s & young adult fantasy. The best is Harry Potter of course, but other great series are Fablehaven and Percy Jackson. This is my fun reading, my palate cleanser, my genre kryptonite, if you will. I prefer to listen to them as audiobooks because they make my commute so much better.
I’m still undecided about this series. It’s about a pair of siblings – the older sister Gwendolyn, who is a witch, and her brother Eric (who everyone calls Cat, which was hard for me to get used to because I consider it such a female nickname) who idolizes her. They are orphaned and sent to live in Chrestomanci castle with a distant cousin and his family, where nothing is as it seems. Gwendolyn doesn’t feel that her talents as a witch are being appreciated, and she begins causing all kinds of trouble.
I found this first book to be kind of slow and annoying, to be honest. Gwendolyn got on my nerves so badly that I almost couldn’t stand it. For awhile the plot seemed too simple and nothing much was happening, but there were glimpses here and there that more would come out later, and the story got so much better at the end that I’m inclined to give the next book a try.
Still, this one was just okay for me.
Rating: Two stars.
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Title: The Girls’ Guide to Hunting and Fishing Author: Melissa Bank Genre: General fiction; chick lit Year: 2005 Acquired: Used book sale at Katy Budget Books Rating: Review: The story here is simple: it follows Jane Rosenal as she grows up and tries to make her way in the world, especially when it comes [...]
Read Review: The Girls’ Guide to Hunting and Fishing by Melissa Bank »
The Mount TBR (that’s “to-be-read”) 2012 challenge is hosted by My Reader’s Block. Click the badge to be taken to the challenge page, or find it here. The idea is to read the books you already own. You can sign up to read anywhere from 12 to 100+ books in your TBR pile, but they [...]
This is a novella (only 55 pages in my version) written almost entirely in letter form revolving around an infamous woman named Lady Susan, appropriately enough. She is said to be advanced in years, or some such junk, considering they mean her to be maybe mid-thirties. She is also beautiful, deceptive, and a huge flirt, [...]
Title: The Marriage Plot Author: Jeffrey Eugenides Genre: Fiction Year: 2011 Acquired: Given as a gift Rating: Why I Read It: I loved the author’s previous two books, and this was chosen as the month’s book for Twookclub. Review: Okay, so it seems like this is a book that people either love or hate, and I have to tell you that I [...]
One of my unofficial resolutions for the year is to revive this book blog. I haven’t been doing much blogging at all lately because of lack of time and energy, but when I do it’s at my personal blog. I fantasize about giving that up and focusing on book blogging, but I know I won’t [...]
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So, as it turns out it’s pretty tough to keep up with two blogs, especially when you work full-time, have a new baby, and value your sleep. Hence the silence around these parts. I don’t want to give up on this though, and I’m even considering making a New Year’s resolution to revive it. Something [...]
I’m not much of a re-reader, because there are so many new books that I want to read. But if I get the time, here’s a list of what I will go back to, in alphabetical order: A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway – I’ve recently read some other things about Hemingway (The Paris Wife, [...]
I did it! I finished this epic work, and only a month later than I planned. I figured its completion was worthy of my return to book blogging, considering I started when I was still pregnant, and now I have a 7-week-old baby girl. So regardless of what I actually thought of the book, I’ll [...]
Read Review, Sort Of: Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace »
Title: Home To Woefield Author: Susan Juby Genre: General fiction Year: 2011 Acquired: Sony Reader store Rating: One Sentence Summary: When Prudence Burns, a young environmentalist from Brooklyn, inherits a scraggly farm in Canada she decides to move there and have a go at country life along with the help of some unlikely characters. One Sentence [...]
Despite the fact that I’m expecting a baby on July 20 and I read a book a month for book club plus Bible studies, I’ve decided to take on the challenge hosted by Ashley at Writing to Reach You to read Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace in a summer. I didn’t know much about [...]
I'm Kathleen, and this space is dedicated to reading, my favorite pastime. I'm a 29-year-old wife & new mom, and I read all types of genres including literary fiction, classics, & memoirs.
