3/5 Star Review – Strange Houses

This book by Uketsu was a YouTube sensation a few years ago, and a friend suggested I read it, so I did. The translation to English makes it a bit awkward. It was not my favourite genre, but it was interesting to see where it went. I think I was expecting it to be a more interesting story, but I found it pretty tame, with a lot of build up for nothing. The telling of the story was the most interesting part, and then once you knew the details the story lost interest (at least for me). I probably will not read any more of the series though I do really want to read their other book, Strange Pictures.

3/5 stars

3/5 Stars – The Christmas Tree Farm

The Christmas Tree Farm, by Laurie Gilmore. I needed something easy on the brain, and this was available at the library so I picked it up. It is your typical hallmark-esc romance, except r-rated with some sex thrown in. I could not take this book seriously. The part where he found her vibrator in the couch was just hilarious to the point of being unbelievable (in specific, their discussion around it, not the actual act, that part I could see happening). Not a literary masterpiece, but it was what I was looking for. Just a nice simple read.

3/5 stars

3/5 Stars – Strange Beasts

This was an OK read. It was for the BBBC (book club) and not exactly my usual read. I didn’t find it very interesting, couldn’t hold my attention. I did want to participate in book club though so I gave it a chance.

3/5 stars

3/5 Star Review: The Thursday Murder Club

This book started off very slow, and it was hard to get into. I liked the idea of it, but found it too easy for my thoughts to drift away during the audiobook. British narrator. It’s being made into a Netflix show later this year I believe.

3/5 stars

3/5 Star Read: Chain Gang All-Stars

This was a powerful book. Brutal in its descriptions. I almost wish it was mandated reading.

3/5 Stars

3/5 stars: A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking, by T. Kingfisher

This was my second book by T. Kingfisher – and I enjoyed it, but I wasn’t absolutely blown away by it like I have with some of her works. It tells the story of fourteen-year-old Mona, who has a magical gift of – bread. She can make gingerbread men rise, and her familiar is a sourdough starter which I found hilarious. I think in the case of this book, I was simply not the target. The book was written for a younger audience, and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that.

I didn’t particularly like how Mona went and solved her issues, either. Things start off as a murder mystery but quickly develops into a coming-of-age story – and again, nothing wrong with that, it just wasn’t what I was looking for.

There are some young adult books I can read and forget that it was ever written with an audience in mind, and unfortunately this was not one of those books, for me. Still, it was a fun magic system and brought some unique features, so if you’re looking for something easy to read and quite cozy despite the murder happening, this might be a read you’ll want to look into.

3/5 stars