Here at Chapter Break, we don’t always write a full review of every book we read. Well, now we decided to do these monthly wrap-up posts with roundups of our reviews this month and mini-reviews to fill in the gaps. Enjoy!
Mini Book Reviews
Torn (A Wicked Trilogy Book 2) I read the first book ages ago (2016 – that was a bad year for me). I didn’t care for the book so much and my review was meh. I didn’t even remember that I had read it, and I only found it again because I was searching “Wicked” books. But I was curious why my review was so ho-hum, and decided to grab book 2 since it was available at the library with no wait time. I dove right into book 2 and really enjoyed it. Since all the world-building would have been done in the first book, this one doesn’t waste time and jumps right into the plot. The plot moves fast, and the romance burns hot. Ivy goes through a whole lot in this book learning what she is, being followed by the prince to try to use her to make an “apocalypse baby” and everything else that happens. Very much enjoyed this listen – great audio narration. Kind of makes me want to go back and redo book 1. But I’ll just move forward to book 3.
Brave (A Wicked Trilogy Book 3): I got this one from the library as well to continue and finish the story I enjoyed in Torn. This one was more like book 1, good, but not as good and kind of drawn out. The characters annoyed me, made crazy decisions without consulting each other, just that kind of thing. The ending wasn’t all that satisfying, it was more of the end for now.
The Berry Pickers: This was a local book club pick, a short audiobook, I thought it would be fine. But at halfway through the book I realized I have no idea what’s going on. The male narrator’s voice is whispery. I can’t stand that and my brain tunes it out. The female voice is fine, but the back and forth has been difficult to focus on. I would expect by halfway through the book to care for the characters or understand their situation. But it’s mostly been day to day stuff, family issues, following both families – the original family where the girl went missing, and the family the girl grew up in and her life. But, I am not attached to anyone. The ending was good though.
The Boyfriend: This is a book club pick for January but I got a skip the line 7 day listen from Libby app so I read it right away. The audiobook was great, well done. The story, also very good. Lots of twists, didn’t see the ending coming. I thought it was a different person. The female character is dumb, like really dumb, but my friend tells me many of this author’s female characters are even dumber. I did like that it had a comfortable ending but the ride was getting intense.
The Star of Whatever: A Humorous Fantasy Novel (The Western Lands and All That Really Matters Book 2): I read book one (The Purple Haze) earlier this year and really wanted to see what happened next as it ended in a cliffhanger. This book started off right away and kept going. The humor was great, continues the tongue in cheek funny silly banter. I liked the growth the sisters had, bringing them together. I enjoyed getting the secrets behind what caused the Purple Haze to begin with, and how Queenly the first sister’s behavior was. I also really enjoyed that it had a satisfying ending. The epilogue sets you up for the next book, of course. But, it was still quite a journey book so it had it’s slow moments.
BUSYBODIES COLLECTION: As far as multi-author collections go, this one was pretty on par. I liked half the stories while the other half were meh for me. All, though, were interesting takes on regular people solving (or committing!) crimes. These stories also seem like the random google search results for murder weapons, from a vacuum to peanuts, to one of those kiddie plush rider toys at the mall. Very obscure. Very off the beaten path. Bonus for a free book. I’m always into free books!
FROSTBITE: Not the Richelle Mead one! But this one is by Gastropod host Nicola Twilley. A fascinating and kind of depressing look at the cold supply chain and the history of refrigeration (and other food preservation methods). Twilley does an excellent job with the narration. The ingenuity behind the invention and further development of how we store and preserve food is compelling. The mealy textured apples and flavorless tomatoes that are the result of genetic manipulation to survive shipping and cold storage is thoroughly depressing. Along with the lack of diversity in out modern diets. Don’t misunderstand. I don’t have a lot of interest in going back to no refrigeration. I just wish my tomatoes actually had some flavor! Some of the interesting facts I learned: hoodies were originally designed for cold storage workers and creosote was once used as a meat preservative. Overall, a captivating non-fiction listen.
GOOD ELF GONE WRONG: A Hallmark story this is not. WAY outside of my spicy comfort level. The writing is fine. The characters are not. And neither is the romance. The relationship between Gracie and Hudson is built on lies. But I do appreciate that Hudson get’s Gracie to stand up for herself and to stop letting her reprehensible family walk all over her. I guess that’s one positive outcome out of the story. The only other positive point I can think of is Granny Murray. She was freaking hilarious. Like Grandma Mazer from the Stephanie Plum books hilarious. Overall, I’m calling this one a meh. I imagine there are better holiday romances out there.
LONG LIVE EVIL: This one is for all the readers who have ever wanted to walk into a book. And\or have the evil villain win for a change! It’s more fantasy without the romance. It’s adorable. Everyone jump on board this train while it’s early! I loved the merging of ‘real people’ into book characters. And the Cobra is one of the best! Writing and narration were both well done. Sarcastic characters are my weakness. A bit campy and a bit trope-y. But I loved it all the same. The fact that the next book doesn’t publish until Sept 2025 is the only downside.
CHILDREN OF ANGUISH AND ANARCHY: It’s been AGES since I read book #2 in this series (2020 to be exact). I started this book with little to no memory of what happened in the previous book. I only remembered not really caring either way what happened. And maybe pirates? I didn’t bother to read any recaps before starting the final book in the series and did struggle with remembering where the plot ending in book 2 and began in book 3. By almost the end of this book, I was disconnected to the point where I just wanted it to end, even if there wasn’t a happy ending. This book didn’t seem to have much connection with the other two, taking place in an entirely different country than Orisha. Still the main characters and pov’s of Zelie, Amari, Tzain, and Inan. The plot felt obvious at points and not particularly challenging as a reader. I also struggled with the audio narration. No disrespect to narrator Cynthia Erivo. Actual narration was fine at 1.25 speed. The voices of the characters weren’t distinct enough to differentiate. I had to keep backing up to the chapter headings to recall which pov was the focus. Overall meh for me.
Books we reviewed this month:
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