Book Review

Moon Reads: Nevermoor

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Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend

Rating: MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px Grey

Read before: No

Ownership: Part of my library and had been there for ages

I read this in January because it was part of the bookclub from Wonder and honestly, I felt it was long overdue to read.

The story follows Morrigan as she expects to die on her birthday because she is a cursed child that brings bad luck. This is definitely an interesting premise but turns out she gets offered an opportunity to participate in some trials and show her magic, but she is sure her only magic is to curse people and bring bad luck, and that is definitely not special enough magic to pass trials. Unless the plan is to curse everyone with bad luck so she wins?

I enjoyed the humour of it, which is slightly dark but also quite funny and touches on harder topics. [Why is it that children’s books sometimes can touch on topics of death, bad luck and bad stuff in such a way that it leaves a mark and yet it feels light and not too bad?] And the place of Nevermoor is awesome, and her sponsor who is trying to get her to win the trials, and honestly, it is a cute interesting story, I think the main key thing is that it is about trusting yourself, and seeing yourself how others see you.

Morrigan was on top of it all,a good character to go along with, she isn’t perfect but then she isn’t obnoxious or trying too hard. she had accepted her fate in life and was doing her best and suddenly everything changes, and I understood in some level that,it was a fresh opportunity, like a breath of fresh air for her and it takes her a while to figure out what to do with this opportunity and change.

Overall, a recommended book about magic, friendship, self confidence, and making the most of life. You could give this you middle grade readers, read it aloud with your little ones or en joy it yourself as a teen or adult and it is basically a book that hopefully becomes a classic.

Subscription Boxes

Moon Hauls: Very Nice Villains Tales by Mail

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Subscription box: Tales by Mail

Theme/Month: Very Nice Villains, October 2021

Ownership: Subscribed on their 6 boxes option. If you are interested in purchasing a Tales by Mail subscription, you can do it on their website.

Tales by Mail is a bi-monthly middle-grade book box that comes with two books, some activity pages you can collect, or copy or use in various ways, a pin and one or two items.

Again, still behind with the unboxing but I want to talk about them and the contents so here we go with one from back in October! Starting from the left and going clockwise as usual:

  • His Royal Hopeless bookmark
  • Hi Royal Hopeless by Chloe Perrin, this book looks hilarious and fits the title quite nicely.
  • Theme card and set of activity pages, I love collecting these in the little ring binder.
  • Rules for Vampires by Sara Ogilvie, also an interesting funny read to fit the theme.
  • Very Nice Notes mini notebook, which is utterly cute
  • A little card/postcard
  • The collectible monthly pin
  • A Very Nice Villain patch with a cute bat
  • And finally a promotional bookmark for Rules for Vampires

Overall, as usual, one of the best things about Tales by Mail is that there isn’t a lot of items and therefore it is more about the books with a tiny treat and I love that. Alongside the fact that it sticks to the theme and provides me with some interesting middle grade book choices!

Book Review

Moon Reads: Star

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Star by Holly Webb

Rating: MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px Grey

Read Before: No

Ownership: Review copy provided by the publisher in exchange for a review. This does not affect my opinion of the book nor do I receive any other compensation for reviewing it beyond the book.

As I mentioned in the Frost review, Star was my first Holly Webb book, which I read in December and honestly, I loved it. It was the right kind of cute and gentle but also had a little adventure, a little bit of moving in space to another area or in a way living someone else’s experiences.

The story follows Anna, who wishes for snow and borrows a little wooden tiger from her Russian grandmother while she hears stories of her cousins back in Russia. But as she goes for a walk, she wonders about a loose tiger cub in Russia near the village where her cousin lives. As such, we suddenly are now in that village and being the cousin Anna.

The story follows Anna as she tries to save the tiger cub but also not be in danger, and it is very cute, very intriguing and cares about the little animal and just shows how things can affect life, but also to be safe. I really liked some of the measures Anna took to be sensible before leaving her house and a few of the things she cautiously does before approaching the tiger cub.

Overall, the story was enjoyable, made me want to have a few wood-carved animals to display somewhere and just to think about animals and the roles they have and what can happen when we disrupt them.

Recommended for readers that can read on their own or a family read to slightly younger readers with some guidance on topics and explanations on the content, nothing untoward or anything like that but it does deal with hunters and animals and other little things. The illustrations are absolutely stunning and it is so worth reading.

Book Review

Moon Reads: Frost

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Frost by Holly Webb

Rating: MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px Grey

Read before: No

Ownership: Gifted by a friend since I love books about foxes.

I had never read a Holly Webb book before I read Star, review to come, and then I was organising my middle grade shelves and realised I had this one by her too, so it felt right to read it and review it.

Frost is a story about a young girl who starts feeding the fox cubs that live near their apartment complex, but she has to do so secretly because you know, urban foxes = bad. The story focuses a little on the present and our main character interacting with eh foxes but also interacting with her family and one of the neighbours in the complex. This part was at first a bit generic but got more particular and showed a lot of character and growth for our little girl.

On the other hand we have the “fox” story, which focuses on a slight time travelling, like being in another body after she listens to a story and decides to feed the fox on a cold snowy night. This somehow means she is in a much older age, 1600s if I remember correctly, and her fox friend is still around but there is also a historical and cultural lesson on snow fairs and the roles of children and life in general.

I really enjoyed the story, and obviously because it has a fox, it was nice to read and just be part fo the fox love shared here.

This book is probably for readers that have a good comprehension level as the story is cute and meant for probably 7+ but it also has a little of historical value and it has illustrations which I loved.

Subscription Boxes

Moon Hauls: Mermaids and Myths Book Box Club

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Subscription box: Book Box Club

Theme/Month:Mermaids and Myths, October 2021

Ownership: Subscribed on their 12 boxes option. If you are interested in purchasing a Book Box Club subscription, you can do it on their website.

Book Box Club is a young adult subscription box, the unique thing is the Clubhouse where you can chat to the author a month (or so) after the box was shipped and ask questions and just chat around. It also includes several goodies and usually, the choice of book is one that is unique and not in other book boxes so very few chances of duplicate books and a lot of new reads discovery power.

A little old but a good box nonetheless which I loved how in tune with the theme it was, so here we go on contents starting with the book on the left and going clockwise:

  • Skin of the Sea by Natasha Bowen, an interesting read indeed and obviously all about mermaids and myths.
  • Theme card, which matches the book and the colour scheme of the box items overall. I like when the card matches well the rest of the box.
  • Mermaid tail iridiscent pen which is just adorable and shiny!
  • A coffee travel mug, which honestly has become my favourite one, the artwork is GORGEOUS.
  • Mermaid socks, nekkid mermaids which apparently I missed entirely and focused on the Lemons until my friends pointed it out.
  • Mermaid wooden pin with a tiny mermaid in a bottle. Adorable size.
  • Mermaid bath fizzer, which I haven’t used because I forget I have a bath tub and to take a bath since I shower instead, but it smells amazing.

Loved this box, it was on point with everything, very lovely on the whole sticking to the theme and everything, so all good. And I still recommend getting a subscription to their box. Good interesting book choices that arent the one everyone else is doing.

Announcements, Discussion

A Constellation of Moon is back

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Hi everyone, after a short hiatus due to life happening and a few health issues, I am back with a lot of books to talk about, a few book boxes to share, more books to talk about, some art, maybe some mentions of streaming and being on Twitch and what that experience means because honestly, it is a whole wild ride)!

Let’s talk a tiny bit about health, in December I had an incident with my hypermobility combined with my hip dysplasia and spinal issues, which meant I couldn’t walk for a few days or bear weight for a while. And then my source of keeping my muscles and joints moving and working, aerial/circus arts, took a break which meant for two weeks a was struggling a little to catch up with moving and being well. And then January has come and gone and I am slowly building up my strength, hosting a party with piñatas as I do every year, and then just trying to live and catch a breath which now I have done.

I could have come back earlier, but the hiatus meant I had the space to return to playing the piano and drawing. I was able to pursue at leisure things that bring me joy without the pressure of having to do them to keep viewers or stats or anything. And don’t get me wrong I love blogging and raving about things, but some days it feels like a grind and pressure and honestly I want to keep filling my life with joy, so a hiatus felt like a good thing to do and to spend some time just recharging. Oh and obviously reading. I finished my Goodreads challenge of 140 books for 2021, with 141 books read. So I challenged myself to 150, which I doubt I will achieve but hey, one has got to try, right?

Also, I may be bringing some aerial/circus content to the blog because I love it and it is a huge part of my life as I mentioned above, so as longas I get my ducks in a row, this should also become part fo the content and I will talk about doing moves, going to see Cirque du Soleil, etc.

Announcements

Moon is on hiatus

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Wishing everyone happy holidays. The blog is on hiatus from now until next year, with potential surprise post, but overall, I am wishing you a good time with your family or yourself, and that it is time to reflect and to be and rest.

Books

Moon Reads: Cytonic giveaway

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Welcome to my stop on the Cytonic blog tour, if you are here to check on Spin, I mean Spensa, then you are in the right place.

Today I have a little treat for you, a giveaway. If you follow Gollancz account and me on Twitter then retweet the giveaway tweet, you’re in for a chance to win a copy of Cytonic, and complete your set!

https://twitter.com/themoonkestrel/status/1466029564484747268

So what are we finding out about the story after all the amazing stuff Spensa has already managed to do? Here is a quick summary of what to expect in the book.

Spensa’s life as a Defiant Defense Force pilot has been far from ordinary. She proved herself one of the best starfighters in the human enclave of Detritus and she saved her people from extermination at the hands of the Krell—the enigmatic alien species that has been holding them captive for decades. What’s more, she traveled light-years from home as an undercover spy to infiltrate the Superiority, where she learned of the galaxy beyond her small, desolate planet home.

Now, the Superiority—the governing galactic alliance bent on dominating all human life—has started a galaxy-wide war. And Spensa’s seen the weapons they plan to use to end it: the Delvers. Ancient, mysterious alien forces that can wipe out entire planetary systems in an instant. Spensa knows that no matter how many pilots the DDF has, there is no defeating this predator.

Except that Spensa is Cytonic. She faced down a Delver and saw something eerily familiar about it. And maybe, if she’s able to figure out what she is, she could be more than just another pilot in this unfolding war. She could save the galaxy.

The only way she can discover what she really is, though, is to leave behind all she knows and enter the Nowhere. A place from which few ever return.

To have courage means facing fear. And this mission is terrifying.

Writing

Moon Writes: watch me disappear

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watch me disappear
as you claim to be,
do, know, see
more than me

(who cares that 
i shared my love for it, 
showed you a vulnerability)

watch me disappear
as you ignore my words
and blank my actions
i am invisible

(not worth your attention now
but if we rewind the film
it wasn’t that way before)

watch me disappear
you got what you needed
climbed the ladder up
above where i am

(go, be special, be famous
walk all over me,
who cares, right?)

watch me disappear
steal my victories
make them yours

watch me disappear
or rather, not,
since i don’t exist anymore

Sometimes out of bad things, good things happen and you get an interesting poem. At first, I re-read this poem and couldn’t remember the exact reason I wrote it and had a certain type of feelings, then shared it with a friend who did remember the original times exactly and then it was like seeing it in a whole new light. In my friend’s words: “it is a surprise what beauty can come out of the terrible things”. Not wrong, not wrong at all…

Subscription Boxes

Moon Hauls: Stranger than Fiction Book Box Club

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Subscription box: Book Box Club

Theme/Month: Stranger Than Fiction, August 2021

Ownership: Subscribed on their 12 boxes option. If you are interested in purchasing a Book Box Club subscription, you can do it on their website.

Book Box Club is a young adult subscription box, the unique thing is the Clubhouse where you can chat to the author a month (or so) after the box was shipped and ask questions and just chat around. It also includes several goodies and usually the choice of book is one that is unique and not in other book boxes so very few chances of duplicate books and a lot of new reads discovery power.

A double book box for August and it was definitely full of items. Starting from top centre and the theme card:

  • Theme card.
  • Splinters of sunshine promo
  • A water bottle with measures to check how much you’ve had already.
  • Time Lord tea
  • Lightbulb clips, love funky clips so this was really nice
  • Tote bag with a quote about how strange we all are.
  • The Upper wOrld pin
  • Clubhouse invite
  • The Upper World which is an intriguing book with an interesting concept.
  • and the second book being Every Line of You, also quite interesting.

Overall, a lot of content and items, probably my favourite was the light bulb paper clips because they are cute but it is a hard choice since it was all cute and for a double book box, it did really well.