Password-protected posts contain heavy spoilers and are there to prevent accidental spoiling. They can each individually be accessed with the password "SPOILME(#of the post)". That means if the post is numbered #0000, the password is SPOILME0000 - SPOILME all in caps, no space in between.
Enter at your own risk. And have fun!
‘I never have been in love; it is not my way, or my nature; and I do not think I ever shall.’
Beautiful, clever, rich – and single – Emma Woodhouse is perfectly content with her life and sees no need for either love or marriage. Nothing, however, delights her more than interfering in the romantic lives of others. But when she ignores the warnings of her good friend Mr Knightley and attempts to arrange a suitable match for her protegee Harriet Smith, her carefully laid plans soon unravel and have consequences that she never expected. With its imperfect but charming heroine and its witty and subtle exploration of relationships, Emma is often seen as Jane Austen’s most flawless work.
I wanted to try more of Austen’s works! And it was a buddy read.
The Quotes
“I lay it down as a general rule, Harriet, that if a woman doubts as to whether she should accept a man or not, she certainly ought to refuse him.”
“Silly things do cease to be silly if they are done by sensible people in an impudent way.”
“I always deserve the best treatment because I never put up with any other.”
“There are people, who the more you do for them, the less they will do for themselves.”
“Nobody, who has not been in the interior of a family, can say what the difficulties of any individual of that family may be.”
The Narrator(s)
Wanda McCaddon. I enjoyed the narration.
My Thoughts
Emma is my third Austen book, and I think while I can enjoy Austen’s books, I could also just take them or leave them. They are good, to be fair, and very reflective of the era they were written in, the social expectations, culture, and prejudices. I’d say Austen is quite progressive for her time, and I can enjoy her books as historical and cultural studies, but I can’t enjoy them as romances because it’s hard to accept the ways gender norms and cultural expectations were viewed at the time.
I do love Emma for what it was though. I didn’t find many of the characters in this book likeable, but I do find them interesting and funny, and somewhat relatable. I quite enjoyed the read and got really invested in the drama in a very gossip-y, low-stakes way. I think Austen’s books in general are very well-written and easy to read. It is a little difficult sometimes to ignore the classism, misogyny, issues with age difference, etc. but unfortunately, it’s accurate to the times and culture it was written in, and I try to take that into account and not judge the story based on that. These issues are probably the reason why I could take or leave Austen’s works though.
My Rating
⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars.
Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?
A propulsive and uncommonly wise novel about one unexpected wedding guest and the surprising people who help her start anew.
It’s a beautiful day in Newport, Rhode Island, when Phoebe Stone arrives at the grand Cornwall Inn wearing a green dress and gold heels, not a bag in sight, alone. She’s immediately mistaken by everyone in the lobby for one of the wedding people, but she’s actually the only guest at the Cornwall who isn’t here for the big event. Phoebe is here because she’s dreamed of coming for years—she hoped to shuck oysters and take sunset sails with her husband, only now she’s here without him, at rock bottom, and determined to have one last decadent splurge on herself. Meanwhile, the bride has accounted for every detail and every possible disaster the weekend might yield except for, well, Phoebe and Phoebe’s plan—which makes it that much more surprising when the two women can’t stop confiding in each other.
In turns absurdly funny and devastatingly tender, Alison Espach’s The Wedding People is ultimately an incredibly nuanced and resonant look at the winding paths we can take to places we never imagined—and the chance encounters it sometimes takes to reroute us.
For the Reading Challenge(s): N/A
The Reason
I’ve heard a lot of praise for this book and I was curious.
The Quotes
“There is no such thing as a happy place. Because when you are happy, everywhere is a happy place. And when you are sad, everywhere is a sad place.”
“And maybe that’s it: You do things in the moment for the person you hope you might be two years from now.”
“Nobody can take care of you the way you need to take care of yourself. It’s your job to take care of yourself like that.”
“She is so good at predicting what will happen in books, so bad at predicting what will happen in life. That is why she has always preferred books – because to be alive is so much harder.”
The Narrator(s)
Helen Laser. She’s really good! Her narration reminds me a little of Julia Whelan’s narration and I’m a huge fan.
My Thoughts
I’m not sure what I was expecting with this book; I initially thought perhaps something along the vibes of Fredrik Backman’s books, something depressing turned heartwarming, and it was a little like that but also more complicated and a lot less clear-cut. There was a lot of tension throughout the book, and I love how the author juggled that along with telling the story. I loved the characters, the fact that there is more to each of them than initial impressions. They make mistakes, do stupid things, behave badly, want things they shouldn’t, but they can still be good people who mean well.
I also love how chance encounters can change your life and how random people can turn into important relationships. I met a random woman once when I was a young teenage girl, who gave me some life advice that I’ve remembered and tried to stick to ever since. I don’t even know her name and wouldn’t recognize her if I saw her again but I’ve never forgotten her and what she said to me. I love that Lila changed Phoebe’s life without even meaning to, and for purely selfish reasons. You just never know the impact you have on someone.
My Rating
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars.
Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?
When Jon Krakauer reached the summit of Mt. Everest in the early afternoon of May 10, 1996, he hadn’t slept in fifty-seven hours and was reeling from the brain-altering effects of oxygen depletion. As he turned to begin his long, dangerous descent from 29,028 feet, twenty other climbers were still pushing doggedly toward the top. No one had noticed that the sky had begun to fill with clouds. Six hours later and 3,000 feet lower, in 70-knot winds and blinding snow, Krakauer collapsed in his tent, freezing, hallucinating from exhaustion and hypoxia, but safe. The following morning, he learned that six of his fellow climbers hadn’t made it back to their camp and were desperately struggling for their lives. When the storm finally passed, five of them would be dead, and the sixth so horribly frostbitten that his right hand would have to be amputated.
Into Thin Air is the definitive account of the deadliest season in the history of Everest by the acclaimed journalist and author of the bestseller Into the Wild. On assignment for Outside Magazine to report on the growing commercialization of the mountain, Krakauer, an accomplished climber, went to the Himalayas as a client of Rob Hall, the most respected high-altitude guide in the world. A rangy, thirty-five-year-old New Zealander, Hall had summited Everest four times between 1990 and 1995 and had led thirty-nine climbers to the top. Ascending the mountain in close proximity to Hall’s team was a guided expedition led by Scott Fischer, a forty-year-old American with legendary strength and drive who had climbed the peak without supplemental oxygen in 1994. But neither Hall nor Fischer survived the rogue storm that struck in May 1996.
Krakauer examines what it is about Everest that has compelled so many people — including himself — to throw caution to the wind, ignore the concerns of loved ones, and willingly subject themselves to such risk, hardship, and expense. Written with emotional clarity and supported by his unimpeachable reporting, Krakauer’s eyewitness account of what happened on the roof of the world is a singular achievement.
For the Reading Challenge(s): N/A
The Reason
It’s one of the most recommended nonfiction books and I have an interest in reading about Everest in general.
The Quotes
“Getting to the top of any given mountain was considered much less important than how one got there: prestige was earned by tackling the most unforgiving routes with minimal equipment, in the boldest style imaginable.”
“Everest has always been a magnet for kooks, publicity seekers, hopeless romantics and others with a shaky hold on reality.”
“We were too tired to help. Above 8,000 meters is not a place where people can afford morality.”
“There were many, many fine reasons not to go, but attempting to climb Everest is an intrinsically irrational act—a triumph of desire over sensibility. Any person who would seriously consider it is almost by definition beyond the sway of reasoned argument.”
The Narrator(s)
Philip Franklin. It was amazing! I was completely immersed.
My Thoughts
I see why this book is so highly recommended! It is intense, emotional, exciting, and heartbreaking all at once. There has apparently been a lot of controversy surrounding this book and the events of the 1996 Everest disaster. There were criticisms thrown around about how individual people handled the situation as it was happening, how they helped or didn’t help, and so on. Obviously, all of this happened almost 30 years ago now and I’m late to the discussion, but I do have thoughts.
I think when you’re in a unique environment like Everest, all the normal protocols and morality for helping others don’t necessarily apply. You don’t have trained first responders you can call, you only have whoever’s up there with you, and very often you are already in compromised health yourself. It’s like if a person is drowning and you don’t know how to swim, don’t be a fool and jump in there to try to save them yourself; you’re only causing more problems because now rescuers have to rescue both you and the person who was originally drowning. In Everest, there are often no trained rescuers, fresh and energized, coming to help anyone in distress. You and the other climbers, all exhausted from their own climb, are all you have. And yes, if you aren’t in the best shape or condition, sometimes the choice you have to make is to not make the rescue, otherwise instead of one death, you’d have two or three or more.
Assuming that everything that Krakauer shares in this book is as accurate as he can be – and he admits that they may not be accurate because there have been discrepensies in each individual’s memories – he has been open with his actions and inactions with helping his fellow climbers, and takes some of the blame for the tragic deaths and suffering that happened. His writing voice in the book reflects his emotional distress about the tragedy, even as he tries his best to be objective about putting it down in words.
It’s easy to criticise others for their inaction, but honestly for me, you don’t know what you would do if you were in the same situation until you’ve been there yourself. It’s not even just being physically compromised and not able to physically help others, the conditions including the lack of oxygen to the brain also causes you to be mentally compromised and not able to think and make decisions. If it were me, I’d imagine that my lizard brain kicks in and survival instincts take over, and I’d be basically useless to help anyone but myself.
And that’s also why I will never ever climb Mount Everest! I am perfectly content reading about other people doing incredible things while I sit comfortably at home on the couch! The most risky thing I did was sitting on the edge of my seat while reading this book. I could’ve fallen off! I got into such a rabbit hole of googling more about Everest and watching some videos of Everest climbers after I finished the book. It’s an amazing story and I respect the hell out of people who do stuff like this.
My Rating
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars.
Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?
“It is the horrible texture of a fabric that should be woven of ships’ cables and hawsers. A Polar wind blows through it, and birds of prey hover over it.”
So Melville wrote of his masterpiece, one of the greatest works of imagination in literary history. In part, Moby-Dick is the story of an eerily compelling madman pursuing an unholy war against a creature as vast and dangerous and unknowable as the sea itself. But more than just a novel of adventure, more than an encyclopaedia of whaling lore and legend, the book can be seen as part of its author’s lifelong meditation on America. Written with wonderfully redemptive humour, Moby-Dick is also a profound inquiry into character, faith, and the nature of perception.
This edition of Moby-Dick, which reproduces the definitive text of the novel, includes invaluable explanatory notes, along with maps, illustrations, and a glossary of nautical terms.
It’s been on my TBR for a while now, and it was available as a buddy read in my online bookclub, so I decided now was the time!
The Quotes
“It is not down on any map; true places never are.”
“Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul; whenever I find myself involuntarily pausing before coffin warehouses, and bringing up the rear of every funeral I meet; and especially whenever my hypos get such an upper hand of me, that it requires a strong moral principle to prevent me from deliberately stepping into the street, and methodically knocking people’s hats off – then, I account it high time to get to sea as soon as I can.”
“Think not, is my eleventh commandment; and sleep when you can, is my twelfth.”
The Narrator(s)
Anthony Heald. It was a wonderful narration and I really enjoying listening to his voice.
My Thoughts
It was not the best time for me to read the book because I had a lot of things on my mind, and had many things to do and catch up on, and I was not in the right frame of mind to savor this book. However, I really enjoyed it very much despite my inattentiveness to the story.
To be fair, there was more lecturing about whales than there was an actual story but I still really enjoyed the story, and I really enjoyed the lecturing; about whales, whaling, fossils, ambergris, history of this and that, Ishmael talks about it all! My issue was that I loved the idea of getting to know more about whales, but I wasn’t in the frame of mind to pay attention to the details, so I didn’t get the full benefit of those parts of the book.
As to the story itself, I love the characters and how vibrant they are! They were all kind of larger than life and caricaturistic, but I feel like that makes sense for how dramatic the story is, and the role each of the characters play in the story. It’s not unusual for me to reread books I enjoy over and over again to understand them better, and I think Moby-Dick falls into that category. It almost seems like this first read was like a primer for me, so that when I reread this I’ll know what to look out for and where I need to pay attention. I’m sure I’ll enjoy it more when I read it again!
My Rating
⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars.
Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?
Kahlil Gibran’s masterpiece, The Prophet, is one of the most beloved classics of our time. Published in 1923, it has been translated into more than twenty languages, and the American editions alone have sold more than nine million copies.
The Prophet is a collection of poetic essays that are philosophical, spiritual, and, above all, inspirational. Gibran’s musings are divided into twenty-eight chapters covering such sprawling topics as love, marriage, children, giving, eating and drinking, work, joy and sorrow, housing, clothes, buying and selling, crime and punishment, laws, freedom, reason and passion, pain, self-knowledge, teaching, friendship, talking, time, good and evil, prayer, pleasure, beauty, religion, and death.
“You talk when you cease to be at peace with your thoughts.”
“Your children are not your children. They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself”
“You give but little when you give of your possessions. It is when you give of yourself that you truly give.”
The Narrator(s)
Riz Ahmed. It was good, no notes.
My Thoughts
This book was one of my bookclub member’s favorite book and she chose it for us. I listened to it twice on audio because it was such a short book and I really resonated with a lot of the ideas in the book, but I feel like this is one book that should be savored. Listening on audio, I didn’t get a chance to sit with a lot of the ideas, and I tried to mitigate that by listening twice back to back but I still think I will reread it again on print, slowly, and take time to pause in between sections and think about the ideas more.
My Rating
⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars.
Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?
A dying billionaire sends one woman and a cast of dreamers and rivals on a citywide treasure hunt in this irresistible novel by the author of Bellweather Rhapsody.
Tuesday Mooney is a loner. She keeps to herself, begrudgingly socializes, and spends much of her time watching old Twin Peaks and X-Files DVDs. But when Vincent Pryce, Boston’s most eccentric billionaire, dies—leaving behind an epic treasure hunt through the city, with clues inspired by his hero, Edgar Allan Poe—Tuesday’s adventure finally begins.
Puzzle-loving Tuesday searches for clue after clue, joined by a ragtag crew: a wisecracking friend, an adoring teen neighbor, and a handsome, cagey young heir. The hunt tests their mettle, and with other teams from around the city also vying for the promised prize—a share of Pryce’s immense wealth—they must move quickly. Pryce’s clues can’t be cracked with sharp wit alone; the searchers must summon the courage to face painful ghosts from their pasts (some more vivid than others) and discover their most guarded desires and dreams.
A deliciously funny ode to imagination, overflowing with love letters to art, from The Westing Game to Madonna to the Knights of the Round Table, Tuesday Mooney Talks to Ghosts is the perfect read for thrill seekers, wanderers, word lovers, and anyone looking for an escape to the extraordinary.
I needed a book for the puzzle prompt and this book turned up and I was intrigued!
The Quotes
“Tomorrow you could be anyone. Imagine that.”
“Maybe this was how adult friendships happened: by accident, embroidered over time, visible only from the height of years.”
“Don’t cheat your friendships. Don’t ask them to mean less to you than they do, or think they only have value if they’re a stop on the way to a *real* relationship. All relationships are real. Friendship can be as deep as the ocean. It’s all a kind of love, and love isn’t any one kind of thing.”
The Narrator(s)
Lauren Fortgang. I loved it, no notes!
My Thoughts
I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this book. I’ve had some bad luck with recent books and I tried to manage my expectations for this one. I’m also really into stories about solving puzzles within the books and I’ve read a few that ended up quite disappointing, so I tried to be neutral with expectations going into this.
To be clear, I don’t think the puzzle-solving portion here was the most brilliant thing, but I loved the story and the characters. I really love the characters! Tuesday Mooney is such an interesting, paradoxical character. I like how she’s presented as a mystery and a loner, but she’s got so many people caring about her from the start, and she actually cares about them too, even if she pretends not to. I expected her to be this strong, proper, stoic person, but she does some questionable things, which actually makes me love her more because they make her so much more human.
I love the other characters as well; Dorry, Dex, Lyle, and Archie. They are so vibrant and colorful, and I really want to learn more about them, spend more time with them, be friends with them! I love one of the messages of the book shared in a quote above, about how friendships are important relationships too. I believe very much in platonic love, and they are just as important as romantic and familial love. What a wonderful read!
My Rating
⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars.
Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?
There are one hundred and forty-three other passengers onboard.
What you don’t know is that thirty minutes before the flight your pilot’s family was kidnapped.
For his family to live, everyone on your plane must die.
The only way the family will survive is if the pilot follows his orders and crashes the plane.
Enjoy the flight.
For the Reading Challenge(s): N/A
The Reason
I love thrillers and I was really excited about the premise and the fact that the author used to be a flight attendant.
The Quotes
“You don’t think everyone actually lives, do you? Most people just exist and roam around. It’s a choice, to actually live.”
“Accept the given circumstances and deal with what you can control. Don’t waste time on what you can’t.”
“Everyone dies. No one escapes it. It’s the only fair thing in the world. Sometimes you’re young, sometimes you’re old, sometimes you deserve it, sometimes you don’t.”
The Narrator(s)
Steven Weber. He was absolutely fine.
My Thoughts
I really wanted to like this book more than I did. It really could’ve been a great story but there were several issues with it that I couldn’t ignore. I won’t speak to the accuracy of flight and crew details because I’m obviously not an expert on these things, but the biggest thing for me is that the plot device just didn’t work. I’m usually not a stickler for details and as a reader, I want to enjoy the story so I try not to be nitpicky, and try my best to suspend belief, but the one thing that I need is for the characters and their motivations to make sense. I’m a character-driven reader; I don’t need to like the characters, but I need them to make sense and I need them to be interesting.
The plot was so weak because the bad guys’ motivations didn’t make sense at all. They had no real plan, no rhyme or reason to their actions, there was no true conviction, and their actions contradicted their words and what they said were important to them.
What I love about thrillers are the feelings of high stakes and being on the edge of my seat, but I couldn’t enjoy this one because I was just like, wtf are they doing?, why are they doing this when they said they wanted that?, and finally, who cares? It didn’t feel important to me, the characters didn’t feel real, the scenario didn’t feel real, I couldn’t take it seriously.
My Rating
⭐⭐/5 stars.
Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?
Vampires and vaqueros face off on the Texas-Mexico border in this supernatural western from the author of The Hacienda.
As the daughter of a rancher in 1840s Mexico, Nena knows a thing or two about monsters—her home has long been threatened by tensions with Anglo settlers from the north. But something more sinister lurks near the ranch at night, something that drains men of their blood and leaves them for dead.
Something that once attacked Nena nine years ago.
Believing Nena dead, Néstor has been on the run from his grief ever since, moving from ranch to ranch working as a vaquero. But no amount of drink can dispel the night terrors of sharp teeth; no woman can erase his childhood sweetheart from his mind.
When the United States attacks Mexico in 1846, the two are brought abruptly together on the road to war: Nena as a curandera, a healer striving to prove her worth to her father so that he does not marry her off to a stranger, and Néstor as a member of the auxiliary cavalry of ranchers and vaqueros. But the shock of their reunion—and Nena’s rage at Néstor for seemingly abandoning her long ago—is quickly overshadowed by the appearance of a nightmare made flesh.
And unless Nena and Néstor work through their past and face the future together, neither will survive to see the dawn.
I needed a book for the Latin American history prompt, and I love vampire stories. I saw this book listed as a possible fit for the prompt and was immediately intrigued!
The Quotes
“He was a man of dust who served men of silver: it was impossible not to know his place in the world.”
“She became more and more tightly bound by the ropes of womanhood; he roamed free, unburdened by responsibilities.”
“This creature, whether it was made by God’s hand or the Devil’s, whether it was born of its own foul will in the shadows of the chaparral, would feed as it had been born to feed. That alone did not make it evil.”
The Narrator(s)
Jose Nateras, and Krysta Gonzales. The narrators did a really good job!
My Thoughts
This might be one of my least favorite books of the year. I had high hopes for the book; I mean, vampires in such a rich cultural setting! There was so much potential and I really wanted something good! But it was just so disappointing.
Some people have mentioned being disappointed because it seemed like it was more of a romance story than a horror one, and I agree because it really seemed like the vampires were barely there except as a weak plot point because in the end, the vampire storyline really fizzled out and the way it was resolved seemed like such a cop-out. But let me tell you, I have been craving romances and I wouldn’t have minded that if it was a good romance story, but it wasn’t that either!
This book is about two very immature adults (I couldn’t believe they were freaking adults and not children!) having a really long, drawn-out argument about something that happened when they were children, that honestly shouldn’t have been as big a deal as they made it. It was the same argument, over and over and over again throughout the book, and I was so sick and tired of them! The only reason I finished this book is because I’m really close to finishing the 2025 52 Book Club Reading Challenge and wanted to cross this prompt off my list. I’m not sure if it was worth it or if I should’ve just tried to find another book for the prompt.
My Rating
⭐/5 stars.
Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?
The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith
Who would have guessed that four minutes could change everything?
Today should be one of the worst days of seventeen-year-old Hadley Sullivan’s life. Having missed her flight, she’s stuck at JFK airport and late to her father’s second wedding, which is taking place in London and involves a soon-to-be stepmother Hadley’s never even met. Then she meets the perfect boy in the airport’s cramped waiting area. His name is Oliver, he’s British, and he’s sitting in her row.
A long night on the plane passes in the blink of an eye, and Hadley and Oliver lose track of each other in the airport chaos upon arrival. Can fate intervene to bring them together once more?
Quirks of timing play out in this romantic and cinematic novel about family connections, second chances, and first loves. Set over a twenty-four-hour-period, Hadley and Oliver’s story will make you believe that true love finds you when you’re least expecting it.
For the Reading Challenge(s): N/A
The Reason
I recently finished another one of the author’s books, Field Notes on Love, and loved it and I’m craving love stories so I decided to read another one.
The Quotes
“It’s not the changes that will break your heart; it’s that tug of familiarity.”
“Did you know that people who meet at least three different times within twenty-four hour period are ninety-eight percent more likely to meet again?”
“It’s one thing to run away when someone’s chasing you. It’s entirely another to be running all alone.”
“I like how you’re neither here nor there. And how there’s nowhere else you’re meant to be while waiting. You’re just sort of suspended.”
The Narrator(s)
Casey Holloway. It was great, no notes!
My Thoughts
I have read this before and as per usual, have completely forgotten everything about it. I did rate it 5 stars on Goodreads though, so I knew I was going to love it again, and I did! It does hit differently now than when I read it more than ten years ago; I was younger back then and remember the nostalgia and the romance of young love more clearly. Now that I’m older and more practical about love, I feel so much concern in the back of my mind for the two MCs falling in love after only a couple of days and during significant moments in their lives! I’m also judging Hadley’s father hard!
However, putting my practical real life tendencies aside and only focusing on the MCs’ stories, it was easy to get immersed in their world and their lives, and feel the romance of their meet-cute. I particularly loved how witty Oliver was, with his banter, and the way he made Hadley feel comfortable with him. It’s such a sweet, wonderful love story, and I still love it reading it now.
My Rating
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars.
Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?
From New York Times bestselling and Hugo Award-winning author T. Kingfisher comes Hemlock & Silver, a dark reimagining of “Snow White” steeped in poison, intrigue, and treason of the most magical kind
Healer Anja regularly drinks poison.
Not to die, but to save—seeking cures for those everyone else has given up on.
But a summons from the King interrupts her quiet, herb-obsessed life. His daughter, Snow, is dying, and he hopes Anja’s unorthodox methods can save her.
Aided by a taciturn guard, a narcissistic cat, and a passion for the scientific method, Anja rushes to treat Snow, but nothing seems to work. That is, until she finds a secret world, hidden inside a magic mirror. This dark realm may hold the key to what is making Snow sick.
Or it might be the thing that kills them all.
For the Reading Challenge(s): N/A
The Reason
I love T. Kingfisher’s stories and I was excited about this one as well.
The Quotes
“Learning just makes you aware of how much there is to learn.”
“There is a crazy-wild delight that comes over you when you discover something new, something extraordinary. If you try to share that and people look at you blankly, it’s crushing. But if there’s someone else there to say really?! and take fire with enthusiasm alongside you – well, that will keep you going for a long time.”
“I was a child with a child’s attention span. Many adults think this is no more than a butterfly’s, flittering from thought to thought, but they have forgotten how, in some children, it is as sharp and pointed as a stiletto. Mine was focused now.”
“I had succeeded in pushing off my fears until later. Now later had arrived, and I wasn’t somehow magically equipped to deal with it. Poor planning on my part, clearly.”
The Narrator(s)
Jennifer Pickens. It was mostly fine, but I really didn’t like the way she expressed the vocalizations of the main character. It detracted very much from the story for me.
My Thoughts
I absolutely love how original this retelling is! I love the way Kingfisher uses the classic elements; the apple, the mirror, the poisons, and so on, and created such an imaginative story out of it. I also loved the whole romance story between Anja and Javier; their chemistry jumped off the page very early in the story and I was rooting for them the whole time!
I love most of the characters; Javier for sure, Grayling so much, Lady Sorrell too, but I had a hard time liking Anja although I’m not sure if that’s because of her character in itself or if it’s because I really didn’t like the way the narrator portrayed her. I also didn’t really like Snow, I didn’t feel connected to her character at all.
There were some things I didn’t like about the story; like how they replaced the word “sex” with “uhh”, which felt so cringy to me, and I also felt like it was a cop-out to make Anja so knowledgeable in poisons but so ignorant with healing in general. It makes sense that she may not be an expert in other specialties of medicine, but it’s hard to believe she doesn’t have a general understanding of healing at all. Still, I mostly loved the story despite the minor issues. It’s not one of my top Kingfisher books but I loved it anyway.
My Rating
⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars.
Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?
