Author: Fives @ Down The Rabbit Hole

An avid reader whose current interest lies in mysteries and thrillers. Line 'em up! Also personally love fantasies and any stories to do with magic, and a sucker for the occasional (good) romance.
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Let’s Talk Bookish – What’s Your Favourite Reading Format?

Fives @ Down The Rabbit Hole

Aria @ Book Nook Bits will be the new host for Let’s Talk Bookish! If you aren’t following her yet, good check out her blog and give her a follow!

July 15: What’s your favorite reading format? Hardback, paperback, audiobook, ebook? (Mikaela @ Mikaela Reads)

Prompts:  What’s your favorite reading format? Hardback? Paperback? Audiobook? Ebook? What makes you prefer one over the other? Which do you read the most? What are the pros and cons of these different formats?

Welcome back to another week of LTB here at DTRH, everyone! Today’s topic is all about book formats, and I think there was a recent similar discussion but nevertheless I’d love to hear what you all prefer. For me, I think there’s a time and place for everything, and I’ve never been a diehard fan of just any one format.

Hardcovers are the most beautiful on the shelf, and to be honest, just visually. It is almost always stunning, and with the added layer of protection (practicality!) there’s nothing I would usually ever complain about hardcovers. My only knock on them is that I actually personally don’t find the experience of reading hardcovers the best. It’s a little bit difficult to pry the book open, and it also feels even worse if I’m bending or cracking the spine. This is just my personal little thing though, can anyone else relate?

Paperbacks (softcovers), on the other hand, are like my pride and joy when it comes to reading. The way it just slightly bends (though I try not to bend it too much), and its lighter weight in comparison makes it just my overall preferred version of a book. The biggest drawback is that it is extremely fragile and susceptible to damage. The corners getting slightly bent, the spine starts wrinkling, pages get warped, the whole book doesn’t lay flat anymore when closed…the list goes on after only one reading of the book! That being said, I still enjoy the reading experience the most.

Audiobooks take up your listening sensory. Sometimes this may not be preferable, although if your other tasks are visual, it may make sense to multitask using two different senses. Some drawbacks of audiobooks is that going back and forth (“flipping pages”) may be more difficult, and sometimes you don’t realize how names are spelled, or other visual cues that might be present in the book are lost on you. On the other hand, I have heard that it helps readers get through more books, and I think that is always a plus.

Ahhh, e-books. I am a huge fan, and especially when my shelves get ever fuller and my wallet tighter, it just makes sense to have e-books. I enjoy reading on my Kindle as it is super portable and easy to read, but also quite safe from regular wear and tear. It is still fragile as a device though, so there is that drawback. But being able to bring many books all on one device to have at your fingertips during a trip or a longer commute is just a blessing of technology. I admit it’s not quite as enjoyable as reading a paperback book but for all the pros that it offers it’s great!

What are your favourite medias and what do you think the pros and cons are? Let me know in the comments below!

4 star

Review: The Agathas by Kathleen Glasgow & Liz Lawson

Fives @ Down The Rabbit Hole

Last summer, Alice Ogilvie’s basketball-star boyfriend Steve dumped her. Then she disappeared for five days. Where she went and what happened to her is the biggest mystery in Castle Cove, because she’s not talking. Or it was, at least. But now, another one of Steve’s girlfriends has vanished: Brooke Donovan, Alice’s ex–best friend. And it doesn’t look like Brooke will be coming back. . .

Enter Iris Adams, Alice’s tutor. Iris has her own reasons for wanting to disappear, though unlike Alice, she doesn’t have the money or the means. That could be changed by the hefty reward Brooke’s grandmother is offering to anyone who can share information about her granddaughter’s whereabouts. The police are convinced Steve is the culprit, but Alice isn’t so sure, and with Iris on her side, she just might be able to prove her theory.

In order to get the reward and prove Steve’s innocence, they need to figure out who killed Brooke Donovan. And luckily Alice has exactly what they need—the complete works of Agatha Christie. If there’s anyone that can teach the girls how to solve a mystery it’s the master herself. But the town of Castle Cove holds many secrets, and Alice and Iris have no idea how much danger they’re about to walk into. 

Another one that I’ve been anticipating for a while, and I got around to it! Even though I was never the biggest fan of Agatha Christie (I do like Murder on the Orient Express), I do respect her as a writer and it was cool to see so many of her pieces mentioned in this one. Overall it really delivered on that YA mystery vibe, the likes of Nancy Drew or The Hardy Boys, and I think it was quite a refreshing read!

The Agathas is basically a self-explanatory title. Two teenaged girls team up as a team of mystery solvers when one of their classmates suddenly goes missing. The POV is split between our two leads: one girl who was previously popular until her (ex-)best friend stole her boyfriend, and the other who is smart and quiet who ends up being her tutor. Together they go around town trying to involve the mystery that the police seems to be very nonchalant about.

Continue reading “Review: The Agathas by Kathleen Glasgow & Liz Lawson” →
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Let’s Talk Bookish – Should all Romances have Happily Ever Afters?

Fives @ Down The Rabbit Hole

Aria @ Book Nook Bits will be the new host for Let’s Talk Bookish! If you aren’t following her yet, good check out her blog and give her a follow!

July 8: Should all Romances have Happily Ever Afters (HEAs)? (Dedra @ A Book Wanderer)

Prompts: Do you like romances with happy endings? Do you think that all romances should have happy endings? Why or why not? What are some of your favorite romances with Happily Ever Afters?

Welcome to another wonderful week of LTB here at DTRH everyone! Actually, crazy problem around the country here, as one of the major phone/internet providers is down this morning and it is causing major chaos! Nevertheless, I am here for the discussion and today’s topic is certainly something that I’ve thought of cursorily, but never sat down to actually consider. Would love to hear what you all think about this topic!

I think generally I would say that I do like romances with happy endings. I mean, there’s only so many sad (or bittersweet) endings that I can take before just wanting to see something work out. It does have a lot to do with our expectations of how an ending should be, but especially if you get attached to the characters it’s hard to ignore that you want the happiest ending for them.

Do I think all romances should have happy endings? Certainly not. I think playing with people’s expectations is one of the clever things that authors can do to really make a book exciting. And while it doesn’t have to be the opposite of happily ever after, it is precisely our fairytale expectations being unwound that can lead to a very exciting or heartbreaking ending! Sometimes I really wonder what it would be like if we didn’t grow up on fairytales (especially Disney) that all have that cheesy-kissy happy endings. Of course I liked them as a child but I bet it shapes our expectations a lot. For those of you out there who didn’t grow up with these classic HEAs, do you also expect happy endings to romances?

I think if there’s ever romances with toxic characters or perhaps just a toxic relationship, I think I’d prefer that not to be the ending, in order not to encourage or glorify the behaviour. But I don’t think in general there’s a reason as to whether or not there must be a happy ending. This is best left as a literary and artistic choice by the author. It could be a message they want to send, but I mean it could also just be the story they imagined in their heads and I think I’d respect them for that.

Rom Coms often have some manner of happy endings, so I think those are generally quite fun! Though I don’t want to give the endings away to any of these books just in case people are still looking to read them. Certainly in both books and movies, I enjoy the occasional rom coms just for its lighthearted nature.

What do you all expect from romances? HEAs all the way? Or only in moderation? Let me know in the comments below!