DarkdawnAuthor: Jay KristoffFirst published: 2019Rating: ★★★☆☆A satisfying enough ending to an ela

DarkdawnAuthor: Jay KristoffFirst published: 2019Rating: ★★★☆☆ A satisfying enough ending to an elaborate revenge story, that I enjoyed but there is no denying this is hardly quality literature. In any case, I was more interested in this than the second volume, which just dragged. What cuts the book in its knees especially is the unnecessary, artless baseness with which the physical love, as well as physical suffering, is treated throughout. I do love Mr Kindly though. Also, all the points to the book designer.The Dutch HouseAuthor: Ann PatchettFirst published: 2019Rating: ★★★★☆ A book about relationships, familial loyalty, hurts and the possibility of forgiveness. Beautifully written, but one should beware there is not much of a plot. An ideal book for a quiet, calm afternoon as you sip a large cup of delicious tea. The Book SmugglersAuthor: Anna JamesFirst published: 2021Rating: ★★★★★ Yet more delightful goodness from Anna James. This is the ultimate book-loving series for kids to fall in love with reading! Every volume is just lovely and I feel like falling into it likeinto a comfortable blanket.Katia: Wife Before GodAuthor: Alexandre Tarsaïdzé First published: 1970Rating: ★★★☆☆ The main strength of this publication is the many letters, presented without shortening, that were exchanged between Alexander II and his beloved “Katya”. that said the author made some maddening decisions of inserting a million footnotes which should never have been footnoted, but information incorporated into the main text. The rest of the footnotes are often so random and unrelated that they baffled me (what good is it to me to know a distant relation of a random courtier mentioned in the book was living in the US in the 60s?). Add to it that there are some inaccuracies regarding names and ages, and all that remains is my ardent wish that this should have been just a published correspondence. The BetrothedAuthor: Alessandro ManzoniFirst published: 1827Rating: ★★★☆☆ I am in two minds about this one. On the one hand, the whole thing is incredibly slow, the characters rather superfluous and their plight left me cold. On the other hand, when the author decides to leave those characters behind and instead focuses on the historical events and general populace, I was hooked and truly impressed and felt both compassion as well as horror. The parts dealing with the war and plague were actually incredible. (And oh gosh! The parallels of the populace reacting to it were too similar to our own experiences with covid it just hit me right in the face how unchanging humans are throughout the ages!) I understand the characters are needed for us to travel with them, but in the end, this is the story of a region, not the two lovers and their friends/enemies. Daughters of Chivalry: The Forgotten Children of King Edward Longshanks Author: Kelcey Wilson-LeeFirst published: 2019Rating: ★★★★★ Fantastic, immensely readable family portrait from the depth of the medieval age! Stands to show that even though their voices are often so muffled by the male censure of history, the women of the past centuries (even if only the ones born into privilege) were very much present during pivotal moments, wielded influence and claimed their own spaces. The Last GraduateAuthor: Naomi NovakFirst published: 2021Rating: ★★☆☆☆*deep sigh* The whole idea of this is great. The characters all have potential. It is definitely something that just deserved a tighter approach or a merciless editor. The amount of pages where the main character just goes on and on and on about things we already know is just devastatingly high. I love Naomi Novik´s previous books and I really was intrigued by Scholomance, but unfortunately reading should not feel like a chore and this book felt exactly like one.The Pillars of the EarthAuthor: Ken FolletFirst published: 1989Rating: ★★★★☆ There is absolutely no better review of this book than THIS ONE.The Nature of WitchesAuthor: Rachel GriffinFirst published: 2021Rating: ★★☆☆☆ Look, there is nothing particularly wrong with this book, but I was bored out of my mind for most of it. This is a great pity because the idea of “seasonal” witches definitely struck me as new and original and the writing itself was not half bad either. And the shallow me loved the cover. However, there really is no plot unless you count a very vanilla and done-to-death romantic relationship. 999: The Extraordinary Young Women of the First Official Jewish Transport to Auschwitz Author: Heather Dune Macadam First published: 2020Rating: ★★★★★ Why would anyone ever be content with any fictional book about Holocaust, when there are nonfiction books like this out there? Beautifully, and sensitively put together to commemorate a specific group of young women who suffered in Auschwitz, this is a dignified tribute to those who died and those who survived.The Adventures of PinocchioAuthor: Carlo CollodiFirst published: 1883Rating: ★★★☆☆A wild trip of imagination that somehow did not make me feel like I was on drugs (looking at you Alice in Wonderland), had some genuinely laugh out loud moments and delicious sarcasm sprinkled on top. Is it the best children´s classic I know? Not, but I would choose Pinocchio over Peter Pan any day. -- source link

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