Month: February 2022

top ten tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday: Books Too Good to Review Properly

Andge @ Down the Rabbit Hole

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.

This week’s TTT got me thinking a lot: what does it take to write a good review for a really great book? And I couldn’t find necessarily a similar thread between them all until I came to one idea – the book somehow uniquely surprised me in a way that no other had before.

I’m not sure if that’s something you all can relate when you struggle to passionately write about a book that blew your mind away even though it should be easier with so much to say! I think my words are never coherent enough to really portray how I feel about the book accurately.

So here are the books I know for certain I could never (or haven’t been able to) write the best review I would want to for these gems.

1. The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood

There’s no mistaking how much I couldn’t put this into words. There’s romance and great chemistry, but above all, there’s science. Accurate science! I felt so seen in a fictional book and I couldn’t emphasize well enough how that took my breath away. If you want to see my attempt, my review is here.

2. The Host by Stephenie Meyer

This is my all time favourite book even after all these years. Nothing has surpassed the way it world builds but also excellently crafts these realistic characters that are so unique from one another. I’ve cried and laughed and loved with this book, and have done so on many re-reads. Yet I have never written a review for it (or attempted to) because I know it wouldn’t be able to hold all that I feel for it. Not unless it’s a 10 page essay.

Continue reading “Top Ten Tuesday: Books Too Good to Review Properly” →
anticipations

New Romance Reads on my TBR (Valentine’s 2022)

Andge @ Down the Rabbit Hole

Hi friends! Today is love day, and I hope we take some time to celebrate love in whatever form it comes in, platonic or romantic.

This is my last post in the series of romance-themed posts leading up to Valentine’s Day (which is today!). I hope you’ve enjoyed them. If you want to read the other posts, they are linked below.

Thank you for stopping by! I just wanted to reiterate how much I appreciate you all, the community of bloggers and book lovers I’ve found here. I wouldn’t still be doing this without you.

Now onto the list!

If the Shoe Fits by Julie Murphy

After having just graduated with a degree in shoe design, and trying to get her feet on the ground, Cindy is working for her stepmother, who happens to be the executive producer of America’s favorite reality show, Before Midnight. When a spot on the show needs filling ASAP, Cindy volunteers, hoping it might help jump-start her fashion career, or at least give her something to do while her peers land jobs in the world of high fashion.

Turns out being the only plus size woman on a reality dating competition makes a splash, and soon Cindy becomes a body positivity icon for women everywhere. What she doesn’t expect? That she may just find inspiration-and love-in the process. Ultimately, Cindy learns that if the shoe doesn’t fit, maybe it’s time to design your own. 

I’m such a sucker for CInderella based stories, but Julie Murphy’s take seems to include body positivity and a plus sized woman that just makes it different among the others I’ve read. It’s definitely got me intrigued at least, enough to put it on this list!

How Not To Fall in Love by Jacqueline Firkins

A hardened cynic and a hopeless romantic teach each other about love in this swoony and heartfelt contemporary romance that’s perfect for fans of Tweet Cute and The Upside of Falling.

Harper works in her mom’s wedding shop, altering dresses for petulant and picky brides who are more focused on hemlines than love. After years of watching squabbles break out over wedding plans, Harper thinks romance is a marketing tool. Nothing more. Her best friend Theo is her opposite. One date and he’s already dreaming of happily ever afters. He also plays the accordion, makes chain mail for Ren Festers, hangs out in a windmill-shaped tree house, cries over rom-coms, and takes his word-of-the-day calendar very seriously.

When Theo’s shocked to find himself nursing his umpteenth heartbreak, Harper offers to teach him how not to fall in love. Theo agrees to the lessons, as long as Harper proves she can date without falling in love. As the lessons progress and Theo takes them to heart, Harper has a harder time upholding her end of the bargain. She’s also checking out her window to see if Theo’s home from his latest date yet. She’s even watching rom-coms. If she confesses her feelings, she’ll undermine everything she’s taught him. Or was he the one teaching her?

I love it when there’s chemistry between best friends, especially ones that are very unwilling to acknowledge that there might be anything more between them. This seems like the perfect read.

Continue reading “New Romance Reads on my TBR (Valentine’s 2022)” →
4 star, YA

Review: Aurora’s End by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

Andge @ Down the Rabbit Hole

Series: The Aurora Cycle #3

The squad you love is out of time. Prepare for the thrilling finale in the epic, best-selling Aurora Cycle series about a band of unlikely heroes who just might be the galaxy’s last hope for survival.

Is this the end?
What happens when you ask a bunch of losers, discipline cases, and misfits to save the galaxy from an ancient evil? The ancient evil wins, of course.
Wait. . . . Not. So. Fast.
When we last saw Squad 312, they were working together seamlessly (aka, freaking out) as an intergalactic battle raged and an ancient superweapon threatened to obliterate Earth. Everything went horribly wrong, naturally.
But as it turns out, not all endings are endings, and the team has one last chance to rewrite theirs. Maybe two. It’s complicated.
Cue Zila, Fin, and Scarlett (and MAGELLAN!): making friends, making enemies, and making history? Sure, no problem.
Cue Tyler, Kal, and Auri: uniting with two of the galaxy’s most hated villains? Um, okay. That, too.
Actually saving the galaxy, though?
Now that will take a miracle. 

Endings are meant to go out with a boom and I do believe Aurora’s End did that, albeit a quieter one than I expected.

I’m not usually much of a sci-fi reader but I’ve come to realize any sci-fi with Amie Kaufman’s name tagged to it works well for my tastes. The world she and Jay Kristoff created here was expansive with the different sentient species coming together, and the whole legacy of the Aurora Legion. I loved that there was still room for world building growth even here in book 3, which is the kind of great storytelling that exists in expansive worlds such as Star Wars. It’s like the world doesn’t revolve around the characters, but the characters revolve around this world that still holds mysteries that we are only getting a taste of.

Continue reading “Review: Aurora’s End by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff” →