Moon Called (Mercy Thomposon 1) - Patricia Briggs

Mercy is a coyote shape shifter, (she can change form and become a coyote ) works as a mechanic and lives in a trailer behind an alpha werewolf's house. When a noob homeless werewolf turns up in her garage, she takes him in against her better judgement and is soon embroiled in a werewolf war- ok not WAR.. more like a conflict. That's not the only drama the werewolves bring her, for she must also deal with an old boyfriend she has long since left behind and a new potential love interest.
I don't know why I liked this. It must be because I had boycotted paranormal fantasies for so long before reading this. All well written paranormal novels are the same, fast paced, filled with action, contain well described sexy male leads and headed by either an endearing bimbo or a kickass stubborn female. Reading them is like being on a sugar high, you love it up until the point you realize that you've had the whole cake and now you're going to vomit it all out and possibly get diabetes. Which is what happened with me. I started this one evening and I got hooked, I couldn't put it down, I breezed through the first 75% like it was nothing but then I noticed the time and reluctantly switched off my kindle, hoping the four hours of sleep that I was going to get would be enough for me to pretend to be awake at the office. However, the next evening the charm suddenly wore off, just like the inevitable sugar high crash, and I wasn't so obsessed with the book anymore. I noted that the plot was pretty lame actually, the love triangle is so 2000 and late and the alpha wolf trope has been done to death.

Nevertheless, I will grant it the 4 stars I reserve for an entertaining, well written paranormal. Blood Bound is already on my TBR, let's see where this goes.

The Age of Innocence- Edith Wharton

Who knew New Yorkers were ever know for their subtlety and reserve!? The gilded age must have ended any ties they had to British formality as the progressive era seemed to be the beginning of the stereo typical American forthrightness.


Our story takes place in 1870 New York, a city were appearances were all that mattered, people stuck to others of their "rank" and Europe was viewed as the playground of the scandalous and "eccentric". Enter Ellen Olenska, a New Yorker by origin who had spent the most part of her life in Europe with her aunt. Ellen's return to NY is met with outrage as the conservative New Yorkers are repulsed at the idea that she left her abusive husband, allegedly with the help of her lover. Newland Archer, betrothed to Ellen's cousin, May Welland, is just as outraged as everyone else but does his utmost best to protect Ellen in support of his Fiancé.


It should be frustrating reading about times where everything was so hush hush and people refused to even admit things to themselves but it wasn't, cause this shit still happens. Newland is torn between his upbringing and the new ideas of women emancipation that Ellen inspires in him. Newland, living in the 1870's, is probably way more open minded and forward thinking than most men I know today, how messed up is that? I liked this character and how he changed throughout the novel I also liked May, whom for all her innocent girl exterior, turned out to be a shrewd little fighter.
3.5 stars cause it dragged and was a bit too dry for my tastes.


The moral I take away from this story and form every stunted love novel is Don't Settle. No matter what. Even if all the odds are stacked against you and it feels like there is no choice, in matters of the heart especially, just don't settle! That shit will follow you forever.

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry- Rachel Joyce

Oh, this was so sad! I didn’t expect to be this sad! I don’t know what I expected! There was so much hope at the start that I allowed myself to be swept by it, against all logic.

Harold Fry receives a letter from his old friend Queenie, informing him that she is dying of cancer in Berwick-Upon-Tweed. Consumed by grief, Harold sets out to the post office to send his reply. After a run in with a girl at the garage, he’s seized by inspiration and decides to take an impromptu walk all the way from Devon to Berwick to save Queenie. Armed with the belief that if he keeps walking Queenie will stay alive and dressed in his yacht shoes, Harold begins his 466 miles journey, leaving his wife, Maureen, behind.

On the course of his unlikely pilgrimage, Harold meets a host of colorful characters and comes to terms with the way his life turned out. The journey is peppered with heartbreaking revelations and moments of despair but I’d like to think the ending was hopeful, if bittersweet.

I liked this book, it’s thought provoking and inspires you to get up and do something. (For the whole two minutes it take for life to suck that inspiration right out of you again.)

Charlotte Bronte- Jane Eyre

The Writing:



The Story:



I absolutely loved the writing, easy 5 stars for that and Jane was the perfect story teller I genuinely liked her and wanted to hear the story. Spoilers beyond this point.

It started out fine, with some child abuse and a sob story. But once Jane got to Thornfield and the love story started it just got ridiculous.

The Love Story



Some would argue that this was ok for that time and age. But it wasn't, the characters themselves expressed worry over the huge age gap. Furthermore, the whole master/servant thing followed by the manhandling when Jane found out the truth..... creep central.



The BIG SECRET, ridiculous as it was, paled in comparison to Jane's mindless flight and the CONVENIENT COINCIDENCE that followed. Because it is SO legit to get on a random coach travel cross country to an unknown town, beg for two days and the MIRACULOUSLY COME ACROSS THE HOME OF YOUR LONG LOST COUSINS!!!


Happens every day! Right!?

Don't even get me started on Mr. Rivers and how fucked up that whole scenario was. Vomit in my mouth. That was a third wave of abuse, in this case complete emotional manipulation. Ugh, repulsive character.

The Ending



This is meant to be a story of a young woman who develops a backbone and stands up for herself. While Jane is a pleasant character with common sense and tough interior, she's just an abused teenager with daddy issues who develops a school girl crush on a man her father's age and he totally takes advantage of it. #creep.

A Discovery of Witches - Deborah Harkness

Inside every girl there lies a secret Bella Swan or in this case a Diana Bishop. An old fragment left from childhood days watching damsels in distress on the Disney Channel being saved by the handsome, fearless, prince. It was that part of me that slightly enjoyed this book for a brief moment. That found enjoyment in the ridiculous love at first sight, I will destroy the world for you kind of relationship that transpired between Diana and Matthew. Unfortunately, it was short lived and the incredulities outweighed the weak charm of this book.

First, this book was a total rip off of twilight. So what? Hundreds of books are based on twilight. Yes, but this one is shameless!

List of Twilight Similarities

1. Most obvious of all: Taboo love between a vampire and a non vampire
2. The obsession with "smelling" things and giving the smells retarded descriptions. " You smell of willow sap. And chamomile that's been crushed underfoot."..... OKAY...
3. Sneaking into her room and watching her sleep.. like we haven't seen that before. #creepyasfuck
4. The Congregation, a.k.a the Volturi. The law keepers of the paranormal realm who are against Diana and Matthew's relationship and want to destroy them
5. The allusion to Diana and Matthew's future babies. Not 100% in line with twilights disturbing demonic baby clawing itself out of the mother, but still a taboo subject.
6. The love at first sight relationship and the following overprotective trope.

That wasn't even my main issue with the book. Since Harkness actually introduced an interesting accompanying story line re. Ashmole and the mysteries surrounding it. No, my issue was the silly character interaction and the over the top cheeseball descriptions. Examples:

Somewhere in the center of my soul, a rusty chain began to unwind. It freed itself, link by link, from where it had rested unobserved, waiting for him



But the most unnerving thing about him was not his physical perfection. It was his feral combination of strength, agility, and keen intelligence that was palpable across the room.

Easy there tiger.

He smiled. It was a small, polite smile that didn't reveal his teeth. I was intensely aware of them anyway, sitting in perfectly straight, sharp rows behind his pale lips.



I was so dumbfounded that I swore. Clairmont looked at me in shock, then chuckled.



Matthew's arms shot around me from behind, pressing my back against his chest so hard that I could feel every flexed muscle. 'Now,' he said directly into my ear, ' we're going to talk like civilized creatures about what happened. You are not running away from this- or from me.'
' Let me go Matthew.' I struggled in his arms.
'No.'

Gosh, this is not ok. Why do authors think this manhandling is sexy. I honestly think we will never progress as a society that respects women until we get rid of this misconception from our literature, films and lives! This is not sexy.... not at all. It's a sign of helplessness and abuse of physical strength. #saynotomanhandling

Let's talk about Matthew's mom, who despises humans because of what they did to her husband. The woman would kill a human on sight, she loathes them BUT somehow, after meeting Diana and initially hating her, TWO DAYS LATER, she's protecting her and treating her like her own daughter......



There were so many strange behaviors in this story, like Diana obsessing over her keynote speech THE WHOLE TIME while people were out to kill her.

"I was just almost tortured to death but hey I'm fine now! Let's think about my key note speech!"

Basically, it's a shallow paranormal romance that was written as twilight fan fiction. Did you absolutely love twilight and wish there was more novels in the series? LOOK NO FURTHER! Harkness got your back!

A Man Called Ove - Fredrik Backman

A man called Ove decides to die. Ove's never really liked other people, the only person who's constant company he enjoyed is his beloved wife Sonia. When Sonia passes away and Ove is subsequently forced into early retirement, he decides that joining Sonia is the only logical thing to do. However, life has other plans and soon enough Ove is distracted from his suicide plans by nosy neighbors, teenagers, a certain cat and a series of frustrating yet hilarious events. What a lovely book! I must be honest and admit that I absolutely hated it at the start. Ove's bitterness about EVERYTHING just got on my nerves, especially when we realize it's not age that's made him bitter but his genetic make-up. I didn't like his wife, for she seemed a self obsessed creature, I didn't like Pavana for her appalling meddling ways, I didn't even like the cat. I was just annoyed at the whole lot of them.

But then, the clown incident happened at the hospital and it made me giggle. And as the relationship between the characters deepened and evolved into something substantial, I started enjoying their interactions and felt for them. It's quite a feat for a book to change a reader's feelings so utterly. I usually judge a book in the first couple of chapters and if I dislike it then it's close to impossible to change my mind. Not only did I start liking though mid way, I LOVED it. The characters were so colorful and distinct, the dialogue funny and endearing and Ove grew on me unexpectedly.

By the end of this book, I was tearing up at each chapter, happy tears mostly. It was a beautiful, if sad ending, that was a perfect end to this light hearted, emotionally engaging novel.

Ready Player One- Ernest Cline

In a dystopian future, humanity pretty much mainly functions in the OASIS, a virtual reality that caters to all your needs and wants. Upon Anorak's, the creator of the OASIS, death, his final will is released to the world. He leaves all this riches and the keys of the OASIS to the "player" who manages to crack his puzzle and find "easter egg" hidden within the OASIS. And so, the race begins, with everyone on the planet fighting to gain this treasure.. whatever it takes.

What a delightful and clever book. I enjoyed reading this book SO much. It was pretty much an ode to the 80's and even though I wasn't around in the era, I still appreciated the references. In fact, it got me really interested in that decade and I wished I had grown up then, just so I could get all the allusions.

I loved the world Cline created, it's where I feel humanity is eventually headed. Great characters, on point dialogue, fast paced writing and action packed pages. Perfect read for any gamer enthusiast, 80's kid, Sci-fi or dystopian reader and anyone who enjoys an intelligent page turner.