May 2021 books

Winterkeep by Kristin Cashore
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

4.5 stars. It has been nine years since I read any of the Graceling books and I thought I might have trouble re-acclimating to this fantasy world, but it sucked me right in! Cashore always does such interesting things in her books, and she has such a good eye for presenting heavy plotlines (abusive relationships, healing from psychological trauma, confusing romantical feelings) in a mostly age-appropriate way. In this one, I was particularly taken with the sentient animals WHO GOT TO NARRATE THEIR OWN CHAPTERS. Adventure Fox is my favorite!

Also, this is the first Graceling book I've read since moving to Finland and I was amused to realize how much Finnish language is woven into this fantasy world. At one point Bitterblue drinks a calming tea called "rauha" (peace) and samklavi is clearly salmiakki. Then there are the character names: I couldn't get over a main character (Katu) being named "street" and another one - injured, wrecked Hava - being very close to the word for "wound" (haava).

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The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I can tell you the exact MOMENT I gave up on this book - page 160 when a character walks by the "Square Shirtwaist Factory." I just...I mean, the fight for women's suffrage is incredibly interesting and fraught on its own and it turns out that creating an alternate history by adding witches doesn't make it more so! I tried so hard to like this book - I loved The Ten Thousand Doors of January by the same author - but after about a week of reading a few pages here and there, I noticed that I was choosing to do almost anything else rather than pick up this book, up to and including scrolling aimlessly through Netflix shows but never actually watching anything. If that isn't a death knell for a book, then I don't know what is (actually I do; it's the Square Shirtwaist Factory).

Penultimately, this book was like The Underground Railroad or The Last American Vampire for me: did...did we need this alternate history? I'm not sure we needed this alternate history.

Ultimately, though, you might like this book! It's beautifully written and comes highly recommended by many people! But give yourself permission to put it down - if it doesn't capture you in the first 50 pages, it's unlikely to do so in the following 466 pages.

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Finlay Donovan Is Killing It by Elle Cosimano
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I had a terrific time reading this book! I don't mean to like a book for what it's not, but it was so nice to read a book that wasn't GRITTY and SEXY and COMPLETELY 100% PLAUSIBLE - just darkly funny and so, so engaging! I absolutely loved the premise and even though it wasn't always believable, I enjoyed how the real-life author of the real book found ways for the book's main character to get around plot holes in the book she's writing in the book. If that makes sense.

Also, gotta love a story where a major plot point is a woman successfully finding capable and dependable childcare (and an awesome get-a-grip friend). LOVE IT. I haven't felt this warm and fuzzy since all those pregnant ladies in The Pull of the Stars were being served hot lemonade.

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Exit West by Mohsin Hamid
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

My friends' reviews of this book are pretty split, so I was curious to see where I'd end up. Turns out I'm somewhere in the middle! I definitely see how people could love this book - I liked the thought-experiment-y premise and the beautiful writing. But there were some things about it that bothered me: how no one plot point is ever really fleshed out (the characters just kind of float around, half-experiencing things), how the plot points the book DOES spend time on never pay off, and how it is clearly meant to be something much stronger than an allegory for the present-day but then veers off into la-la land instead of examining a more plausible endgame scenario for its doors-that-lead-to-anywhere conceit.

So basically this just wasn't the book for me! That's all I'm saying. You might really like it - a lot of my friends did!

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The Rose Code by Kate Quinn
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

3.5 stars. I liked The Huntress from this author better, but this book was still a good time! I was a little bit distracted by the presence of Prince Philip in this story, in quite a significant role, even. I also felt like there should have been ONE more twist somewhere in the final stretch. But a very solid read for sure!

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The Winner's Curse by Marie Rutkoski
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Third reading May 2021. Still love it.

Second reading March 2016:
The feels in this book are off the charts. I love it so much. Not sure if I can bear to re-read book 2 unless book 3 is already in existence, though, so I might have to wait a few more weeks. I didn't meant to burn through this one so fast, but it's just so good!

First reading 12 July 2015:
This is the book that I wanted to cheat and read during church today (!!!!) but the Kindle app on my phone wouldn't download it and so I had to just sit there and daydream about the story so far in my head as best I could. You guys, I haven't flat-out read a book in church since I brought Misty of Chincoteague to Stake Conference in 1992.

That's how good this one is.

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The Winner's Crime by Marie Rutkoski
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Third reading May 2021. You know that scene in Sense and Sensibility (the movie) when Marianne climbs that hill to look at Willoughby's estate and she's crying in the rain, and then later Willoughby also rides by her house and gazes at it all regretful-like, and Elinor is confused because she thinks that Mrs. Ferrars is Edward's wife, and one time Edward walks into a room where both Lucy Steele and Elinor are sitting and no one can say what they want to say because they're not sure how much each other person knows? This book is like those scenes, the whole time. Love it.

Second reading March 2016.
Since this was my second reading, I knew better than to hope for any kind of intermediate resolution in this story. And that made it so much more enjoyable! This is one of those books that would be over in a second if people would just have Important Conversations with each other, but there are good reasons that doesn't happen. I love how the characters think about things and plot their next moves carefully, even though a little rash action would go a long way. I am thoroughly looking forward to the last book, which comes out in a little over a week!

First reading 15 August 2015
Deeply unsatisfying, and contrived to be so. I did enjoy getting to feel like I was reading Romeo + Juliet for the first time again, though.

And the author's writing style is to die for. The relationships she writes hurt so much they feel good. Even if I did want to chuck the book out the window at the end. At least everyone in this book is smart. They may make the wrong choices sometimes (all the time...) but they do have good reasons.

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The Winner's Kiss by Marie Rutkoski
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Second reading May 2021:
This is such a strange little series and I can't get enough of it! I liked this book even more the second time around. I'm so glad I re-read these books.

First reading May 2016:
This book read like a foil to its predecessor, and I'm not complaining. Book 2 was a frustrating read and this book did a good job of teasing out what happened and putting it to rest. The passages dealing with sadness and loss and betrayal in this book - and they were considerable in number - were exquisite. Rutkoski did eventually get down to the business of wrapping up this series, though - it can't all be angst and healing (unfortunately, sigh).

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