Review: CITY OF THIEVES by David Benioff

Rating: 3/5 stars

Here’s the thing: this book is really well-written. Like so good that I immediately want to read everything David Benioff’s ever written. And I wanted to love it because it’s an amazing story. But I didn’t really enjoy my time reading this book just because of the subject matter. Let me explain.

I originally bought this book years ago because I used to read a lot more historical fiction and the synopsis sounded unique and interesting. Lev and Kolya are captured during the siege of Leningrad in WW2 but let go on the condition they will bring back twelve eggs for the colonel’s daughter’s wedding cake. During a time when there are close to literally zero eggs to be found in Leningrad and the city is cut off from supplies, these two young men go on an absurd adventure and cross enemy lines in search of these eggs, just so they can later gain their freedom.

It sounds cool. It’s definitely a WW2 plot I haven’t heard before. Despite owning this book for years, I’ve never had the desire to pick it up though. But this year I am trying to read the favorite books of all my coworkers, and City of Thieves is one of my manager’s favorite books, so that’s why I read it.

I really need to read books when I first become interested in them because I’ve fallen out of love with historical fiction (and fallen in love with epic fantasy instead). This book is full of humor and characters that feel like they are real people (more on that in a bit), but it’s also full of all of the depressing things that happened during the war, such as murder, rape, torture, death, hunger, etc., and I discovered that I don’t really like reading realistically depressing books anymore. It’s great to have these stories about what happened back then, but I also don’t like to feel sad while I read.

What’s great about Lev and Kolya though is their banter and voices were written in a contemporary style, and it actually felt more genuine to me than if Benioff had tried to give them a 1940s vernacular. They were funny and relatable characters and felt very real to me, and I loved that.

David Benioff starts this novel by saying how he interviewed his grandfather, who told him his story, which David then novelized and that’s what became City of Thieves. Except that’s a total lie because I looked up an interview with David and he said that this novel is entirely fictitious and that all of his grandparents grew up in America. It’s very interesting while reading though because you’re like, “Is this real? Did this really happen, or did he make this up?”

I think if you’re a fan of war-torn historical fiction then you will enjoy City of Thieves, although I think everyone should read it for the writing alone. I just can’t get over how amazing of an author David Benioff is: his plot, his characters, his diction, his imagery—everything was beautiful.

Review: LOVEBOAT, TAIPEI by Abigail Hing Wen

Rating: 3.5/5 stars

I liked this book way more than I expected to. The only reason I read it is that it’s this month’s book club pick; I don’t normally read young adult contemporaries/romances anymore so I thought from the beginning that this wasn’t going to be my thing. It started okay: it was entertaining and funny, but it also seemed basic, average, and shallow to me. It was going along alright until we got to the part where Ever and her friends go out partying and get drunk and make poor decisions and just that whole section of the book had me almost quitting it, but I decided to push through because it was a quick read, and I’m so glad I did. The story picked up immensely, and Ever and all the characters started evaluating their actions and making much better decisions.

I loved the Chinese culture in this book. Ever is Chinese American, and both of those cultures are part of her life, but she doesn’t start to appreciate her Chinese heritage until she goes to Taipei and meets other people like her. The struggles she and her parents experienced felt very real to me, and I’m sure many readers can relate. I loved the little bits of information we got about Mandarin and food in Taipei and the nightlife there—basically, the setting was very genuine.

I also really loved Ever as a character. She really grows up in the short two months that span this book. At first, she’s making bad decisions just to rebel against her parents’ strict rules; eventually though, she learns that she doesn’t want to rebel, she just wants to be herself, who she has never felt she’s been able to be, which leads her to make different choices. She has to reconcile her parents’ desire for her to be a doctor with her desire to be a dancer, without disappointing them. This book really is about coming of age and learning who you are and what you want out of life, but it’s also about the importance of family and strong friends. Even though the word “Loveboat” is in the title and there definitely is romance in this book, I would say that the romance is a secondary plot to the storyline of Ever discovering herself.

Ultimately I ended up really enjoying Loveboat, Taipei, and I do plan to read the sequel whenever it comes out, which I would have been shocked to hear myself say a week ago. This book was cute and fun and a fast read, but it also was meaningful and empowering, and I loved that. I think anyone who has Chinese heritage would really connect with this book, but it can definitely be enjoyed by anyone else, too.

Review: WOLF IN WHITE VAN by John Darnielle

Rating: 2/5 stars

This book is unlike anything I’ve ever read before. It’s strange, but it draws you in. At first I had no idea what it was about, no idea what was going on, but as I kept reading and immersing myself in the story, everything started to make sense as my mind painted a picture of what was happening.

This is the kind of story I’d recommend starting without knowing anything about it. Chapter three is where it really hooked me and made me curious about our protagonist and his story and the overarching story and mostly the setting.

The setting is what’s the most unique: this book is set in this world, but it’s also set in an imagined savage futuristic version of this world. Sean has created this world as a sort of game and has a mail-in business where he sends you pieces of the story and you choose your path and then he sends you the corresponding piece of what happens next. Just the whole concept was fascinating to me.

I really enjoyed the authorial voice and the stream of consciousness writing style here. I haven’t read very many books that sound like this one did in my head but Sean notices things about the world that I loved reading about. This was the best part of the book in my opinion.

I don’t really have a lot more to say about Wolf in White Van because I’m intentionally trying to remain as vague as possible, but I think you should give this book a shot, at least. It has a very intriguing story, a protagonist with vivid imaginations, an interesting dual setting, and a little bit of a mystery aspect that will keep you invested until the literal last page. I didn’t expect to enjoy this as much as I did but I’m glad I gave it a chance because it was a breath of fresh air. Although I will say that the ending was kind of confusing.

Review: UPROOTED by Naomi Novik

Rating: 2/5 stars

I wanted to love this book so much; I genuinely thought it would be my new favorite book. But unfortunately I found myself very distanced from the story and not enjoying the plot as much as I thought I would.

The synopsis on the back sounds interesting, but I quickly discovered the synopsis comprises only the first chapter of the book and I had no idea what the rest of the story was about. I kind of expected Agnieszka and the Dragon to just stay in his house practicing magic the whole time and fall in love, but instead they left to go into the Woods a bunch and then the Prince came, and there were some court politics, and some other people got involved, etc. and basically it wasn’t at all how I expected it to go.

But on top of that, I felt like the story was very slow and I found myself not really enjoying what I was reading. Like I said, I really wanted to love this book, but after about 40% though, I had to stop lying to myself and just admit that I was bored...

Plus I’m not sure who any of the characters were besides Agnieszka, Kasia, the Dragon, and Prince Marek; everyone else blended together to me and I didn’t care about anyone. Same with the towns. We desperately needed a map or something because every time a new town was mentioned, I just glazed over it because I had no idea where anything was or why it was important.

The more I read, the more detached I became from the story and the characters. I didn’t like how the magic worked and found it to be messily structured but also repetitive. Agnieszka constantly uses the same spells over and over so I felt like we saw no progression in her learning magic. Also, I really didn’t like how the relationship between Agnieszka and Sarkan developed and I thought it felt very contrived, especially later on in the story. This is the first time I remember ever not loving the protagonists’ relationship in a book, and I was disappointed by that. I was actually cringing during some of their scenes together because they just didn’t work at all and he was so rude to her that I couldn’t figure out why she liked him in the first place.

Uprooted has one of the most beautiful covers I’ve ever seen and its description sounded like something I’d normally love, but almost every part of this book didn’t work for me. The beginning really was the only portion I enjoyed. I read The Near Witch last year, and that book turned out to be exactly what I thought Uprooted would be as far as atmosphere and magic quality and character development go. It was a fairytale-esque story that felt ethereal and beautiful and was about a girl going into the evil forest to save someone, but it did everything right.

I know Uprooted is beloved by many, and I genuinely wish I loved it as much as I loved The Near Witch and had the same experience reading it as everyone else, but that’s just not the case, sadly. I still want to give Naomi Novik a chance though and read Spinning Silver and His Majesty's Dragon, so I hope those books work out better for me than Uprooted did.

Review: REVERIE by Ryan La Sala

Rating: 1/5 stars

I read this book for the book club at work, and I was hopeful that I’d actually like this one, but alas, this novel falls victim to poor execution of a great idea.

I actually really liked the concept of Reverie: people’s dreams come to life and the protagonists have to keep everyone safe from them. I’ve always been interested in stories set in dreams with the whimsy, magical depictions of dreamscapes, which is what I thought this book would be about. To quote how the book explained it though, “Reveries are what happens when a person’s imagined world becomes real. They’re like miniature realities, with their own plots and rules and perils.” So it’s not like a dream, not really. The full idea of reveries and how they work was never fully explained very well so I’m still only half sure what they are.

The execution of the plot here is not what I expected it to be, which isn’t a bad thing within itself, but I wasn’t enjoying what was happening and it was just bad. I found the plot to be very slow-moving and I felt like I was constantly waiting for something more to happen. It wasn’t until page 150 that we finally get an explanation that I think should have been delivered within the first few chapters.

At the start of the book, Kane wakes up with amnesia, so both he and the reader are in the dark about what’s happening. But after they enter the first reverie and I still wasn’t hooked, I thought it was because I just didn’t know enough information. I kept reading and the plot didn’t go anywhere. Then they entered the second reverie and I was forcing myself to continue reading the book because I just didn’t care and I didn’t know why I should care anyway.

The plot was confusing and underdeveloped and needed to be more fleshed out. Everything felt very messy.

This book just scratched the surface of the story it could have been. Each scene posed questions that we never saw answers to. The characters were so flat and all had the same voice and I can’t even tell you what any of our protagonists looked like. Character motivations were flimsy at best and I didn’t feel like there were any real stakes here. The whole plot felt very disjointed and unbelievable at times.

I honestly just didn’t enjoy the story. I struggled to pick it up to read. The idea was cool but the writing was bland, the characters were one-dimensional and I didn’t feel connected with any of them, and the overall storyline was confusing and not what I expected it to be. Plus nothing was fantastical enough for me in this book. It’s shelved in fantasy but that somehow feels wrong here. I wanted so much more than we got—I really did want to love this book, but all I feel is disappointment.

“Just because something is imagined doesn’t mean is isn’t dangerous. Sometimes the things we believe in are the most dangerous things about us. That’s why people build entire worlds in their minds. Because they think they’re safe, but they’re wrong. Dreams are like parasites. They grow up in the dark within us, and they grow deadly. Trust me when I tell you these reveries can kill you.”

Review: FIX HER UP by Tessa Bailey

Rating: 2/5 stars

Travis “Two Bats” Ford is a player—both of baseball and of girls. But a serious injury leaves him unable to play baseball again, sending him back to his childhood home and into a depressive spiral. Being Travis’s best friend’s sister, Georgette Castle grew up around Travis and has crushed on him since she was little. Despite his reputation, Georgie has always liked him and looked up to him. When he comes home after his injury, he bonds with Georgie in a new more mature way than the “little sister” he used to know. And this being a romance book, of course we know that they hook up.

Georgie is a sweet, wonderful, caring, innocent girl who I really enjoyed reading about. On the other hand, I couldn’t get over Travis’s disgusting reputation and couldn’t understand how Georgie would ever like him; I’ve never understood why girls always fawn over the guys that only want sex and nothing else and don’t even care about them and treat them like garbage, but I digress.

I liked this simple plot of this story: Georgie and Travis decide to fake-date each other for public appearances so they will both be taken seriously for reasons I won’t list here, but of course fake dating turns into real dating before they know it. (These aren’t spoilers, it’s in the description.)

I liked that Georgie was able to show Travis he is a worthwhile person and be there for him when literally no one has before, but I didn’t like the way Travis talked to Georgie. He obviously liked her more than just for sex, which even he seemed shocked about, but he was also pretty controlling of her and I wasn’t into that. I wouldn’t go so far to say he was abusive, but he was definitely demanding and liked to act like he was in charge of her, especially in the bedroom, which wasn’t cool. I know some people like that, but that wasn’t for me. For example, during their first night together he thought, “I want to own her,” and also that he was “making his mark” on her, and when he was done “he shouted his victory.” And at another time he tells her, “You might be on top but I’m still in charge.” Those thoughts are absolutely not okay and not sexy.

So while I liked the cute plot of this novel and I liked Georgie’s character and her coming-of-self subplot to get her family to show her more respect as a real adult, I didn’t really care for Travis as a character because he’s not someone I would ever be attracted to or want to be with so I was just kind of turned off of him the whole time. I didn’t dislike him enough to put the book down, but he had me sneering and scowling at his actions instead of swooning. I’m also really not into the story of the cocky, super experienced guy who takes the virginity of the super innocent girl. Please just stop with that plot.

I read this book because I like to read cute rom-coms in the middle of dark, cold December, and this book fit that mood, but it’s definitely not one I’d ever reread. I much prefer the swoony romances with the good guys and less smut (and don’t let this innocent cover fool you, this book is so smutty).

2020 Reading Challenges

First of all, my Goodreads goal is set at 70 books. That's pretty achievable for me. Ultimately though I do hope to get to 100, but I know that I will be reading longer fantasy books this year that will take more time so I won't be able to finish as many books in a year. Last year I got to 96 books, so I thought that maybe this year I could get to 100, but last year I read a ton of short stories and graphic novels and also a ton of longer books, so that number is more inflated that it will likely be this year, when I'm planning to read fewer short stories and graphic novels, so 70 is this year's goal.

Next, my series goal. I had good luck with bingeing series last year, managing to complete five series from start to finish, and this year I again hope to do this. My goal is to complete at least six series this year, although there are a couple that I'm currently in the middle of, so I do hope to finish those as well.

Also, my neverending TBR goal. I currently have 350 books on my TBR at the start of 2020. I've noticed that I tend to gravitate toward newer books or books that I've acquired more recently, so this year I want to focus on reading as many books as possible that I've owned since high school since they've been on my TBR the longest. I currently have 36 books on my shelf from 2013 or years prior, and ideally, I'd like to get that number down to zero. Seven or more years or longer is too long to still have books on my TBR. So this year my goal is to give each of those books a chance and either complete them or DNF them, depending on if I like them or not. I know I realistically won't get to all of them, but that is still the goal because it's ridiculous to own unread books for so many years. Here is my list of unread books from high school:

• Delirium
• Pandemonium
• Requiem
• Eon
• Eona
• The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer
• The Evolution of Mara Dyer
• Switched
• Torn
• Ascend
• Ship Breaker
• The Drowning Cities
• The Pledge
• Looking for Alaska
• Will Grayson, Will Grayson
• Between Shades of Grey
• Eldest
• Brisingr
• Inheritance
• Wuthering Heights
• Sense and Sensibility
• Fahrenheit 451
• The Picture of Dorian Grey
• Anne of Green Gables
• Paradise Lost
• Don Quixote
• The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
• The Girl Who Played with Fire
• The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest
• Gone Girl
• Memoirs of a Geisha
• The Da Vinci Code
• The Blind Assassin
• Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
• Pop Kids
• Diary of Anne Frank

I can tell you right now there are some books on that list that I have no intention of reading this year, such as most of the classics and adult fiction titles, ones that if I do get to them I will be truly surprised. But I specifically do want to read all of the young adult titles, which I have bolded above. The older I get, the more distanced I become from young adult stories and their protagonists, and I want to read them while I still have some hope of enjoying them. 

The last couple of years I have constructed a read-your-own-books challenge to help me read books from my TBR. This year I'm not doing that as I don't care what challenges I fulfill as long as I read any of my unread books. That is the main goal: read books from my TBR. Last year, 47% of the books I read were from my TBR. My goal this year is to have that number be 70% or higher. 

Last year, working at a bookstore and a library, I acquired more books than I've ever acquired during any years prior, and thus my TBR grew exponentially. I unhauled many books I didn't want to read anymore, yet my TBR was still larger at the end of last year than at the beginning of the year. This year I hope to buy fewer books, read more of my own books, and commit to DNFing books if I don't like them. 

2019 Reading Goals Review & Yearly Stats

As the year comes to a close, I like to check-in on my reading goals, look at some stats about the books I read, and reflect on my reading throughout the year.

Reading Challenges Review
This year my first challenge was to read 50 books, and I surpassed that by reading 97 books.

My second challenge was to tackle a long series, which I designated as Throne of Glass. I got halfway through that series and decided it wasn't for me. I also wanted to read five completed series from start to finish, and I did fulfill that. The full series I read were these:
1. The Shades of Magic Trilogy by V. E. Schwab
2. The Mistborn Trilogy by Brandon Sanderson
3. The Steelheart Trilogy by Brandon Sanderson
4. The Broken Earth Trilogy by N. K. Jemisin
5. The Lightbringer Series by Brent Weeks

My third challenge was to complete my self-made Read-My-Own-Books Challenge to help me reduce my TBR, and I finished that as well. Here are the challenge prompts and the books I read to fulfill them:
1. Read a book that has been on my TBR the longest.
    I Am the Messenger by Markus Zusak
2. Read my most recently acquired book.
    Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson
3. Read an advanced copy (ARC) of a book.
    Wilder Girls by Rory Power
4. Read a book that has a screen adaption.
    And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
5. Read a popular backlist book.
    Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas
6. Read a book by an author I've never read before.
    The Black Prism by Brent Weeks
7. Read a book by an author that I love.
    Legion: The Many Lives of Stephen Leeds by Brandon Sanderson
8. Finish or catch up on all series I've started but haven't finished yet.
    Starsight (Skyward, Book 2) by Brandon Sanderson
    The Testaments by Margaret Atwood
9. Start and finish a new series.
    The Shades of Magic trilogy by V. E. Schwab: A Darker Shade of Magic, A Gathering of 
    Shadows, A Conjuring of Light
10. Let my husband pick out a book for me to read.
      The Iron Trial by Holly Black & Cassandra Clare

I also had a list of standalone books I wanted to read, and I had the goal to catch up on all of Brandon Sanderson's books. I won't list them all out here, but I read almost everything on that list, plus I read 16 of Sanderson's short stories or novellas and 8 of his books, leaving me with just the Stormlight Archive, the Wheel of Time, Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians, and The Rithmatist to have read all of his works. I knew I wouldn't get to TSA or WoT this year, but I did expect to have time for his others.

To see a list of all the books I read in 2019, check out my Goodreads page. 


Yearly Statistics
Number of books I read in 2019: 97
Number of those books that I listened to on audio: 36
Number of books I read from my TBR: 46
Number of books I read that were published this year: 27
Number of series I started: 12
Number of series I completed: 7
Number of books I DNFed: 3
Number of books I reread: 7
Number of books I acquired in 2019: 162
Number of books I unhauled in 2019: 69
Number of books on my TBR at the beginning of 2019: 297
Number of books on my TBR at the end of 2019: 350

Books I read that were . . .
Middle Grade: 12.4%
Young Adult: 25.7%
Adult: 61.9%
Graphic Novels: 11%
2019 Releases: 28%
On My TBR: 47%

Star Ratings:
1 star: 2 books
2 stars: 14 books
3 stars: 18 books
4 stars: 38 books
5 stars: 25 books


Reading Survey
Favorite book of the year: The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern
Least favorite book of the year: The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh
Most surprising book of the year: Elantris by Brandon Sanderson
Most disappointing book of the year: Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson
Longest book of the year: The Burning White by Brent Weeks (992 pages)
Shortest book of the year: Dreamer by Brandon Sanderson (21 pages)
Book that was on my TBR the longest: I Am the Messenger by Markus Zusak (8 years)
Biggest accomplishment: The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon
Most read genre: Fantasy (74%)


Reading Reflections
I discovered lots of new authors I want to follow (Brent Weeks, Taylor Jenkins Reid (didn't discover her this year but solidified her as one of my favorite authors), N. K. Jemisin, Victoria Schwab, Katie O'Neill, etc.), I read a lot of great fantasy and solidified that as my favorite genre and really honed in my reading tastes, I read a lot of books from my TBR and also got rid of a lot of TBR books that I'm no longer interested in reading. I managed to read almost all of my unread books by Brandon Sanderson, my favorite author, so hopefully next year I will be able to make more progress on that goal. Even though I read 46 books from my TBR and removed 69 books, I acquired 160 books this year, so my TBR is even bigger now at 348 books. That's the hazard of working at both a bookstore and a library, I suppose, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

It has been a great year of reading and discovering new authors and immersing myself even more in fantasy novels. I can't wait to see what reading adventures next year holds for me.