The Constellation of Moon

The Power Within Fairyloot Unboxing

Posted on August 10, 2018

A mixed box of feelings for me. Some items were very good but the rest were not enough. Let’s do the unboxing starting from the book and going clockwise:

Heart of Thorns by Bree Barton. It has red sprayed edges (beautiful) and expect a review soon (like in two days).
Sweet Black Waves postcard.
Author letter/character art print.
Fairyscope hidden underneath.
Children of Blood and Bone print (one of my favourite things from this box).
Theme card.
Witchy broomstick with a quote referencing Quidditch.
Colour changing mug. Sadly it is just a quote in colours, it isn’t a wonderful picture or some fun effect, which is a shame as Ink & Wonder designs are usually delightful and lovely.
Wrongly printed tea towel (they are sending one that isn’t reversed, no one thoguht to check this before printing sadly).
A room spray from Geeky Clean.

Discussion

Spill the Tea: On Photosensitivity representation

Posted on August 8, 2018

Say what?

Photosensitivity is in the simplest form an allergy to light (most of the time this is just allergy to the sun). It presents in several degress (mild to “I have to live in absolute darkness”) and forms.

The most common is photosensitive eyes, which is when your eyes are very sensitive to light. It can also appear as a side effect of other illnesses (like lupus) or even of medication.

I was born with photosensitivity. In my eyes it is a medium-high degree, whereas on my skin/body it is mild-medium. Also, as far as I know, it is not a side effect of something, it just is.

Here are some facts about my own experiences:

I was diagnosed when I was 11-12. At the time I hated having my picture taken when flash was involved and wasn’t too happy with places that had a lot of bright lights.
Since my diagnosis I have worn Transitions/photosensitive glasses (I also need them to see). I can tell you how many leaps and bounds the technology has come along in the last 10+ years. (Quite a lot).
Talking of eyes and sight, sunglasses do NOTHING for me. Transitions help my eyes adjust much better. Computer glasses aren’t a good suggestion either. (Trust me, the number of times people suggest this, is beyond count).
Up until a few years ago I couldn’t wear contacts and even now, I can only do so rarely (they make some polarized special ones).
On a bad day, I can spend most of the day crying because my eyes cannot cope with the amount of light. This is not fun to explain.
I am sensitive to all kinds of light, not just the sun (it isn’t common to be affected by all kinds of light).
I get rashes and spots on my skin if I am exposed to too much light.
Fun fact: I tan easily (rather than burn).
I have never had a lack of Vitamin D (so no, not being out in the sun doesn’t mean I lack it).
I tend to wear tights and long sleeves or cardigans even in summer.
I can go to the beach but I have to be careful of my exposure to the sun.
I can also get a headache/migraine from being exposed to light.
Because I am so sensitive to light, I have good night vision.
I have a tendency to prefer warm soft lights if there is a need for one or having candles.
Fire is the only light source that doesn’t seem to trigger my allergy.
Allergy pills help a tiny bit, specially to not be as itchy with the rashes.
For years I would scratch the rashes and now I have so many tiny scars they sometimes look like freckles.
Sometimes I still scratch them, despite knowing it does me no good.
After having tattooed my thigh I realised I would scratch less so I got a tattoo on each arm/shoulder to discourage the scratching. It has worked to a degree.
There is very little representation of this condition in literature (I only know of two books).
Yes, I have heard the “you are a vampire” joke countless times, I will still smile but trust me, you’re not the first one to say it.
There is very little knowledge in general about it (or at least all the doctors I have had and dealt with don’t know much and as far as I’ve found, each person that presents this condition has a unique way of having it.)
I have adapted to it because I’ve had this all my life and it isn’t until people ask why I do certain things that I realise how odd they are.

Now let’s talk representation.

There is very little. I know of two books that actually try to talk about it. One of them is The Ice Garden by Guy Jones, which I have reviewed and enjoyed. However in it the MC isn’t affected by every light just sunlight so as much as it was delightful to read about it, it was still not the same as I have to live. Still, it was good and I didn’t feel annoyed but rather it left me wanting my own ice garden.

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The other book I know of, is Lovely, Dark and Deep by Justina Chen. I am still waiting to read this one but trust me, I am dying to do so. And I will post my review as soon as I have finished.

And well, that’s it. I do not know of any more books that represent this.

What I do know is that there isn’t enough information out there, and there is little representation. And I hope that this changes (not only for photosensitivity).

Book Review

A Sky Painted Gold Review

Posted on August 6, 2018

A Sky Painted Gold by Laura Wood

Growing up in her sleepy Cornish village dreaming of being a writer, sixteen-year-old Lou has always wondered about the grand Cardew house which has stood empty for years. And when the owners arrive for the summer – a handsome, dashing brother and sister – Lou is quite swept off her feet and into a world of moonlit cocktail parties and glamour beyond her wildest dreams.

But, as she grows closer to the Cardews, is she abandoning her own ambitions… And is there something darker lurking at the heart of the Cardew family?

A gorgeously dreamy coming-of-age romance set against a stunning Gatsby-esque backdrop, this is perfect for fans of I Capture the Castle and Eva Ibbotson.

Rating:

Reader, I have a confession to make.

I do not like The Great Gatsby.

And with that preamble, let me tell you that despite being labelled as a The Great Gatsby for teenagers/young adults, this book is not to be compared with Gatsby. Why? Because it is SO much better.

There is a lot of focus on family, familiar love, specially between siblings, and each relationship is written with care. It shows and it is part of what shines in this book. The characters are endearing even if they aren’t always good.

And as much as there is romance in the book, it isn’t the only thing. The story flows, and it makes you swing and dance with it, it takes you on a journey that you don’t want to stop. And when you reach the end you want to cry of joy.

Moon recommends

Read this book, regardless of your love/hate/neutral for The Great Gatsby. I also recommend trying some of Eva Ibbotson’s books. They’re the same kind of lovely.

Wrap-ups and Tags

YALC 2018 Wrap up

Posted on August 4, 2018

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YALC (Young Adult Literature Convention) was a treat. I am still (a week later) very happy and full of books!

I’ll do a quick wrap up (or attempt to) as the pictures will speak for themselves (so many books).

I brought back 108 books. Some I had taken with me to get signed (about 30 of them which still means I managed to acquire 78 books during 3 days).
Several authors remember me, I also seem to be quite good at being found.
I shocked publishers with my Waterstones receipt (it had to be unfolded for a few times, and had SO many books!)
There were a lot of goodies, and I was very happy with all the posts. (Someone suggested an artists alley and I have to say I’d love that!)
Our book squad is the very best and I love them all to pieces. There were a lot of times when they managed to get books signed for me, or reminded me of something or simple saved me in some way. I can’t thank you all lovely ladies enough.
I said “Oh, sorry, I am dead” while laying spread out on my back on the floor to Jason Momoa (it was Sunday and I was exhausted, hypermobility was NOT happy with me).
I also managed to walk in between Jason and his bodyguard and be completely oblivious to that (everyone later went like “but like didn’t you notice?! you did it!”).
Managed to meet so many lovely people, thanks to all you lovelies that stopped me and introduced yourselves!
Queue strangers to friends is the best of the best. Specially after you keep meeting the same people on different queues.
Talking of queueing, I still don’t get the British and their love for queues. Several times I asked “what are you queueing for” and the reply was “I don’t know”.
Suitcases and totebags for the win!
The moon dress (which is actually Knit Anele’s dress) got a lot of compliments, but also, it was SO comfortable (same with the boots, custom made and I loved them, like walking on clouds).

Have a look at all the books (bought, ARCs/proofs won, free books, signed books)

Last but not least, a big shout out to the Book Box Club girls. It is through their idea of having a Clubhouse to chat about the book, that I met my best friend. But not only that, from it our book squad was born.

I had always dreamed of having a group of friends that understood me, that were there in the thick and the thin, that had my back (and for whom I could be there when they needed me), and it was just a dream.

Kate and Libby, through Book Box Club, made that dream become reality and I have no words to say how grateful I am for this, for the box, for the books, for the friendships, for our squad. Each lady in the picture below is worth infinity times their weight in gold.

Book Review

Pretty Bad Liars?

Posted on August 4, 2018

All of this is true by Lygia Day Peñaflor

Miri, Penny and Soleil have been friends since seventh grade, attending the same classes at the same private school, looking at the same boys, arranging the same hyped parties, and most important of all, sharing the love for the novel Undertow, and worshipping its author. One day the girls, together with their new friend Jonah, goes to an Undertow-signing. The author, Fatima Ro, is everything they hoped she would be, and as if that wasn’t enough, she want’s the little high school gang to become “her new people”. Hanging out at Fatima’s soon becomes the new normal, but all relationships isn’t what they first seems to be, and conflicts, lies, and hidden agendas are boiling right under the surface. It all comes down to the question: Who can you really trust to keep your secrets?

Rating 🐖🐖🐖

This is exactly the kind of page turning mystery story that I do l.o.v.e. It’s similar to Pretty Little Liars and a lot of other YA-books, with the plot building up around a well-kept secret that you spend the time reading to try to figure out. In All of this is true, this premise also shines through in how the book is disposed and written. It consists exclusively of TV-interviews with the girls, excerpts from Fatima Ro’s new book, email-conversations, and news paper articles about the unraveling scandal that’s at the center of the story.

I strongly liked this disposition, as it added to the jigsaw format of the plot itself. What I didn’t like was that the book felt a bit thin. Not in size or number of pages, but plot wise. After all, the “big secret” in this one was quite easy to figure out, and once it was exposed, there wasn’t much more to the story.

This book could easily have been a five pigs-read for me, if there had been just a liiiittle more dept; to the characters, and to the events that took place, i.e. in terms of psychological explanations or theories. ‘Cause at the end of this books, all my “how’s” were answered, but all my “why’s” where just left there hanging. And that’s really like ripping out the last chapter of a really good thriller, isn’t it?

Dr. Bea approves

If you want more mysteries, I recommend you to read One of us is lying by Karen M. McManus. (Moral wise I had some troubles with that one, to be honest, but oh was it an exciting five pig-read.)

Book Review

I Have Lost My Way Review

Posted on August 2, 2018

I Have Lost My Way by Gayle Forman

A powerful display of empathy and friendship from the #1 New York Times Bestselling author of If I Stay. Around the time that Freya loses her voice while recording her debut album, Harun is making plans to run away from home to find the boy that he loves, and Nathaniel is arriving in New York City after a family tragedy leaves him isolated on the outskirts of Washington state. After the three of them collide in Central Park, they slowly reveal the parts of their past that they haven’t been able to confront, and together, they find their way back to who they’re supposed to be. Told over the course of a single day from three different perspectives, Gayle Forman’s newest novel about the power of friendship and being true to who you are is filled with the elegant prose that her fans have come to know and love.

Rating:

Gayle’s books shine for a few things, and this one doesn’t loose those marvelous pros. Which ones? One, it is an easy read. The writing is easy to read, it doesn’t require you to concentrate like crazy because you may miss something, and it is just quick and easy and enjoyable.

Another one is her view of humanity and gaining introspectives on yourself through watching, interacting and being with others. This particular book shines a lot on that front. Mind you, I say yourself, but it is meant to be the fact that it happens as the characters exist and move along the story, but it affects you too as you go alongside them.

There is usually music involved in one way or another in the narrative which I kind of like because it makes it “normal”, and it makes it a part of everything.

All in all, a nice lovely book about finding your way, and remembering why you are doing things. (It is less punch-y than some of her other books but that doesn’t take away from this one).

Moon recommends

I am not big on contemporary books, but I can recommend I Have Lost My Way, or if you want to try more of her books you can start the If I Stay “series”.

Book Review

The Loneliest Girl in the Universe Review

Posted on July 31, 2018

The Loneliest Girl in the Universe by Lauren James

Can you fall in love with someone you’ve never met, never even spoken to – someone who is light years away?

Romy Silvers is the only surviving crew-member of a spaceship travelling to a new planet, on a mission to establish a second home for humanity amongst the stars. Alone in space, she is the loneliest girl in the universe until she hears about a new ship which has launched from Earth – with a single passenger on board. A boy called J.

Their only communication with each other is via email – and due to the distance between them, their messages take months to transmit across space. And yet Romy finds herself falling in love.

But what does Romy really know about J? And what do the mysterious messages which have started arriving from Earth really mean?

Sometimes, there’s something worse than being alone . . .

Rating:

Romy is very very lonely, and it is interesting to try to figure out exactly why she ended up being so alone (that is one part of the story in itself). Which as much as sometimes I want to be left alone I do not want it that bad.

Then she starts receiving messages from someone called J in the new ship and she starts to get slightly confused by it. But there are also some other messages coming to her and she has to figure things out.

I have to admit I quickly knew or guessed the “twist” but it was still good and very well done. Romy was awesome and it showed well her lack of company and just how lonely she was and the way hope changes her at times. The writing flows as you read so you want to keep reading, trying to find out what exactly is going to happen and when.

Moon recommends

Of course, The Loneliest Girl in the Universe. If you like space themed books, then Elizabeth Moon’s are a good choice, or you can try Becky Chambers’ Wayfarers books.

Book Review

There’s something in the woods …

Posted on July 29, 2018

The River at Night by Erica Ferencik [book pictured in Swedish]

Winifred and her friends Pia, Rachel and Sandra have known each other since they were really young (and sometimes got really drunk). Now they’re all grown ups, with teenage kids, ex-husbands and full-time jobs. But every now and then, they go on vacations together, or rather on (often dangerous) adventures. This time they’re aiming at a full week of exploring the wilderness of Main. They start off with a white water rafting tour, that doesn’t end up anywhere near what the girls planned … After that, it’s all about surviving, in the deep forest. Alone. Or are they really?

Rating 🐖🐖🐖🐖

I got recommended The River at Night by a friend, and started the book without any particular expectations. Every now and then I like my average thriller, but by this book, I was pleasantly surprised. You see, this is a deeply unsettling thriller, without it being gory. I was just really scared (in an exciting and page turning way) throughout this whole read. It also totally got that Stephen King-claustrophobic thing that I love going on.

I found the book to be well written and interesting both when it came to the scary “something is watching us”-parts and concerning the “we have been friends forever and this is our life stories”-passages. And that is, in my opinion, quiet unusual when it comes to thrillers. It certainly helped to build up the story in an interesting way, since I wanted to know more both about the characters back stories, and about how everything was going to end.

The only remark I have is that I wish the author had dragged out the beginning of the story for a bit longer. ‘Cause those moments before everything escalates, is almost always the most creepy part of uncanny stories like this.

Dr. Bea approves

If you liked this book, you will probably also enjoy In a Dark, Dark Wood by Ruth Ware. It’s packed with intrusive forest environments, life long friendships, and conflicts boiling just under the surface.

Book Review

The Hunger Games meets Jurassic Park

Posted on July 27, 2018

The Extinction Trials by S. M. Wilson

The continent of Earthasia is overpopulated, and the cities are full to the brim. It’s gotten to the point where people work in shifts in order to be able to share beds, sleeping in assigned hours during either the day or the night. Food is lacking, health care is non-existent, and the crowded cities are plagued by a rapidly spreading disease no one knows how to cure. But there might be a solution to all this suffering.

Just across the (somewhat deadly) ocean, the untouched continent of Piloria is sprawling. There’s clean air, endless space, and a plenitude of eatable plants. The only problem is that Piloria already is populated. By people-eating dinosaurs.

Rating 🐖🐖🐖🐖🐖

The Extinction Trials has been described as a fusion of The Hunger Games and Jurassic Park, and after having read the book, that depiction feels point on. This is a dystopian adventure story, fast paced and plot-driven, but it’s also resting on a fine net of personal background stories and political conflicts.

The two main characters of the story, Stormchaser and Lincoln, both tells their life stories while competing in the insane trials to qualify for the (even more insane) Piloria-expedition. Together with the ongoing adventure, these stories, and secrets, contribute to further reflections about life and extinction, as well as that of human rights, unfair rulers, and a not too comfortable but alarmingly possible future if we keep on treating our planet this way. But unlike Jurassic Park, which I recently wrote a review about, those discussions doesn’t take over the novels story. So for those of you that are just looking for some good old velociraptor action: you won’t be left disappointed.

In my opinion, The Extinction Trials is the perfect dystopian adventure. It’s trustworthy, it’s emotional, it’s full of political tension, and it’s packed with hungry dinosaurs. There’s simply nothing more to wish for.

Dr. Bea approves

If you want more dystopia, check out The Lunar Chronicals or Outwalkers. And if you just can’t get enough of dinosaurs, this surprisingly new book may float your goat.

Book Review

It Only Happens in the Movies Review

Posted on July 25, 2018

It Only Happens In The Movies by Holly Bourne

Audrey is over romance. Since her parents’ relationship imploded her mother’s been catatonic, so she takes a cinema job to get out of the house. But there she meets wannabe film-maker Harry. Nobody expects Audrey and Harry to fall in love as hard and fast as they do. But that doesn’t mean things are easy. Because real love isn’t like the movies…

The greatest love story ever told doesn’t feature kissing in the snow or racing to airports. It features pain and confusion and hope and wonder and a ban on cheesy clichés. Oh, and zombies… YA star Holly Bourne tackles real love in this hugely funny and poignant novel.

Rating:

My absolutely favourite thing about this book was the ending. I was buddy reading with a friend and kept commenting on how I didn’t want x or y in the ending, and Holly delivered. It couldn’t be a more perfect ending to the book.

Basically this book redeemed my quickly draining love for contemporary books (as I get older and read more and more, the less I like contemporaries, they are just meh and feel like the same book over and over with minimal changes. Holly however gave me something different and wow me!)

Also, it was great to see more of the family in a way and how things weren’t great for Audrey and she couldn’t do much about it (because sometimes that’s life and it sucks).

Moon recommends

Cheek It Only Happens in the Movies, oh and get some popcorn with it, you’ll crave it!