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The Deer and the Dragon (No Other Gods #1) by Piper CJ

"I think the lesson of this book is "think before you speak." Other than that, I felt like it was the author trying to show off her knowledge of different religions but Marlowe, the protagonist, wasn't smart enough to realize how to interact with these different Pantheons. And she never, ever learned. This was just a poorly written, badly edited, underwhelming book and I just wasn't impressed. " 2 Stars. Pros: The book itself was beautiful, the pages were bound with blue edges but the story was severely lacking. Cons: Dial back on the melodrama can we please? Marlowe's first reaction of, pitching a fit and telling Caliban to go away, that she never wants to see him again, leads to him disappearing, DUH. You have to think before you speak when dealing with humans and deities. Full Review Marlowe grew up dirt poor, never had any friends and was raised by an overbearing, abusive, religious zealot of a Mother. The only comfort she finds is in the form...

Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls

"A simple, honest, touching story about a boy and his dogs, hunting raccoons in the foothills of the Ozark mountains. It has faith, love and loyalty and it hit just as hard as an adult as it did when I was a kid." 3 Stars Pros: Billy's love for his pups, Old Dan and Little Ann is the most pure and genuine love there is and there's never any doubting it/Touched upon the idea of God/Heaven/Faith in a tender and respectful way. Cons: I had trouble with the passage of time in this novel, I was unsure of how much time had passed between chapters, so all of it seemed to happen very quickly, it was a little jarring at times/I do not approve of hunting unless you're using all parts of the animal and need to kill said animal to survive, even then, I'm not a fan of it, so the whole constant hunting of small woodland creatures was a bit cringe-worthy. Full Review One night, on his way home from work, Billy Coleman witnesses a dog fight. He, at first, can't help ...

Dracula (The Original 1897 Edition) by Bram Stoker

"The end all be all of Vampire novels, Stoker's Dracula is not only unique since it deals dark fantasy and it must have been quite shocking when it was first published, but the way that Stoker writes it, through journal entries and newspaper clippings really gave the story a fun, interesting vibe. I'm glad I re-read this, though the text in this graphic novel was miniscule, so glasses were a must." 5 Stars Pros: The end all be all of Vampire books, I mean, it's Dracula/Stoker definitely made it interesting, keeping the narrative as journals/diaries and newspaper clippings. Cons: The print in this edition was so small that I could only read a bit at a time or else, migraine. Full Review: Jonathan Harker has traveled to Transylvania to help Count Dracula finish his paperwork as he buys a plot of land in England. Soon, what Harker though was a normal business trip to an unusual country, turns into a nightmare. Harker comes to realize that Dracula is not ...

The Magicians (The Magicians #1) by Lev Grossman

"Little bit Hogwarts, little bit Narnia, little bit Jessica Jones, throw in a vague but believable idea of magic and this is the result. It was gritty and dark and I both liked and disliked it. I'm intrigued enough to need to know what happens next so, I'll have to find The Magician King soon." 3 Stars Pros: Grossman made his magical system esoteric enough that it was halfway believable which I liked/I like Eliot better than Quentin, I hope the plucky comic relief lives to see the end. Cons: They're all a bit nasty to one another, it seemed unnecessary/Alcohol + kids with immense power with no responsbility and no barriers = chaos/All the lying, cheating, drinking, drugs, sex, revenge. It was all so unnecessary but then, there would be no conflict. Full Review Magic is real. Quentin Coldwater finds that out when he's randomly transported out of Brooklyn and to Upstate New York, just in time for the exam to start. He's swept into a room with 99 other ...

Gallant by V.E. Schwab

"An interesting stand alone by Schwab that follows Olivia Prior, an orphan girl whose only link to her past is her mother's journal. On the very last page is a letter to Olivia, expressly telling her to stay away from Gallant. And of course, that's the one place where Olivia ends up. This was an interesting story about family, courage, love and how everything has a balance." 3 Stars Pros: The idea of a shadow world is an interesting one/Hannah & Edgar 💖/The ending was good but, it hit hard. Cons: I do wish we'd gotten to see more of Olivia's parents and the history of the Priors but, I guess that's part of the mystery, the not knowing. Full Review Olivia Prior has nothing. No friends, no family, no place to call her own. She's lived her entire life in Merilance, an orphanage for independent girls. The girls are cruel, the matrons strict but Olivia just keeps to herself. She's non-verbal and can't communicate with the others, so she...

Beloved by Toni Morrison.

"A heart wrenching, story of violence, loss and death but told in such beautiful prose, Morrison's writing is transcendent. This book will stay with me forever." 5 Stars Pros: This was so emotionally and mentally heavy, that sometimes I had to put it down and walk away. Like, take breaks and remember to breathe because Morrison doesn't pull any punches, nor should she. It's no surprise she won the Nobel Prize 👏. And yes, when a book hits me that hard, I consider it a Pro, not a Con. You want books that stay with you. Cons: The part where Beloved, Sethe and Denver are all one and the same, those chapters were trippy and threw me for a bit. Full Review Almost told in reverse, we learn of Sethe, a former slave, who ran away to Ohio, to her Mother in Law, having sent her children ahead of her. They were free, at least for awhile but then something threatened that freedom. We learn that Sethe did something drastic then, to try and preserve what they had. ...