.review – Page 15 – The Constellation of Moon

Lovely, Dark, and Deep Review

Posted on September 7, 2018

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Lovely, Dark, and Deep by Justina Chen

What would you do if the sun became your enemy?

That’s exactly what happens to Viola Li after she returns from a trip abroad and develops a sudden and extreme case of photosensitivity — an inexplicable allergy to sunlight. Thanks to her crisis-manager parents, she doesn’t just have to wear layers of clothes and a hat the size of a spaceship. She has to stay away from all hint of light. Say goodbye to windows and running outdoors. Even her phone becomes a threat when its screen burns her.

Viola is determined to maintain a normal life, particularly after she meets Josh. He’s a funny, talented Thor look-alike who carries his own mysterious grief. But the intensity of their romance makes her take more and more risks, and when a rebellion against her parents backfires dangerously, she must find her way to a life — and love — as deep and lovely as her dreams.

Rating:

You know how they tell you to write the book you’d like to read and haven’t found? For me this is the book I wanted to read but hadn’t found. However, I did not write, instead Justina did.

We follow Viola’s story through this book, she is a browncoat, which in geekspeak means a fan of Firefly, and is also crazy about doing bake sales for charity (that is something I am not that familiar with except as a concept but all the food she cooks throughout the book made me hungry and I wish we had some recipes to go with it). Then as she is having a normal day, she collapses and voila, turns out she is allergic to the sun (and light).

Now, in case you didn’t know, I am photosensitive myself (I was born like this) and I have written a little about it on a reality check post. And I really want to highlight that this book does a wonderful job at representation of photosensitivity. It is well researched, it is good at explaining how it affects and changes your life (it was very intersting for me, since I have adapted to it as I grow, rather than having to do so in one go, and I kept nodding at the things they would try and going “yeah, done that”) and it is also a good story. It follows her journey to coping with her new life, and how her family relationships change, but it also has a romance subplot which I enjoyed (even if at times it was quite sweet) that in itself deals with loss and grief.

Lovely, Dark, and Deep is a very uplifting book, it keeps reassuring you that you’ve got this regardless of how many lemons (or killer sunrays) life throws at you.

Moon recommends

That if you know me, or are curious about photosensitivity, you go and buy this book and read it. It genuinely is the book I didn’t know I needed. And if you’d like a younger and more sweet book, try The Ice Garden.

Book Review

Are We All Lemmings & Snowflakes? Review

Posted on September 1, 2018

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Are We All Lemmings & Snowflakes? by Holly Bourne

Welcome to Camp Reset, a summer camp with a difference. A place offering a shot at “normality” for Olive, a girl on the edge, and for the new friends she never expected to make – who each have their own reasons for being there. Luckily Olive has a plan to solve all their problems. But how do you fix the world when you can’t fix yourself?

Rating:

My first Holly Bourne book was It Only Happens In The Movies, and I absolutely loved it, it was a different kind of contemporary book. So when this little one came out and it touched on kindness and mental health I knew I had to read it.

It did not disappoint. Olive has issues, and she is sent to a camp as a possible treatment. There she meets other people with different mental illnesses, and she starts going off on her own theories of how to fix herself.

I love the part maths took here (and the character that brings them into place), and Olive was in part lovable, part I wanted to tell her to stop and listen and just not do what she was doing. But then I have had a lot more years of experience than she does in the book, and I did do some crazy things regarding my mental health when I was Olive’s age.

However, this book made me quite emotional and I kept wanting to read it and not stop. Plus it touches on being kind to yourself, and starting there but also on doing small acts of kindness to others. Which is always a good thing and it is lovely to see that promoted.

Moon recommends

Maybe just go read more of Holly’s books? I have reviewed It Only Happens In The Movies here so you can check that one out, or go buy this book.

Book Review

Undead Girl Gang Review

Posted on August 28, 2018

Undead Girl Gang by Lily Anderson

Mila Flores and her best friend Riley have always been inseparable. There’s not much excitement in their small town of Cross Creek, so Mila and Riley make their own fun, devoting most of their time to Riley’s favorite activity: amateur witchcraft.

So when Riley and two Fairmont Academy mean girls die under suspicious circumstances, Mila refuses to believe everyone’s explanation that her BFF was involved in a suicide pact. Instead, armed with a tube of lip gloss and an ancient grimoire, Mila does the unthinkable to uncover the truth: she brings the girls back to life.

Unfortunately, Riley, June, and Dayton have no recollection of their murders, but they do have unfinished business to attend to. Now, with only seven days until the spell wears off and the girls return to their graves, Mila must wrangle the distracted group of undead teens and work fast to discover their murderer…before the killer strikes again.

Rating:

This novel was a refreshing voice and it made me laugh. It was also quite good to have a witch that is not your usual witch, and I loved it. I also loved how her spells turn out.

I read this in a couple of sittings because it was just fun and cute and I kept wanting to know what Mila was doing and pondering exactly why the girls had been killed and by whom.

The twists made me laugh (mushrooms, mushrooms), and it just felt like a fun book yet it was dealing with death and difficult things happening. People think the girls died by a suicide pact, so with this premise Mila starts trying to prove it wrong, and it is a sad book.

Yes, there are zombies but it definitely isn’t your usual zombie story at all! But it does challenge the mean girls and it challenges Riley and Mila’s friendship and it is good, and interesting.

I think the best way to describe it is a refreshing fun out of the norm book.

Moon recommends

I think you should read Undead Girl Gang. If you like mysteries and thriller like, try One of Us is Lying, or if you prefer something funny, try Heretics Anonymous.

Book Review

The Book of Boy Review

Posted on August 26, 2018

The Book of Boy by Catherine Gilbert-Murdock

Boy has always been relegated to the outskirts of his small village. With a large hump on his back, a mysterious past, and a tendency to talk to animals, he is often mocked and abused by the other kids in his town. Until the arrival of a shadowy pilgrim named Secondus. Impressed with Boy’s climbing and jumping abilities, Secondus engages Boy as his servant, pulling him into an expedition across Europe to gather the seven precious relics of Saint Peter. Boy quickly realizes this journey is not an innocent one. They are stealing the relics, and gaining dangerous enemies in the process. But Boy is determined to see this pilgrimage through until the end—for what if St. Peter can make Boy’s hump go away?

This compelling, action-packed tale is full of bravery and daring, stars a terrific cast of secondary characters, and features an unlikely multigenerational friendship at its heart. Memorable and haunting, Catherine Gilbert Murdock’s epic medieval adventure is just right for readers of Sara Pennypacker’s Pax, Adam Gidwitz’s The Inquisitor’s Tale, and Pam Muñoz Ryan’s Echo.

Rating:

Oh my gosh, this was such a cute read. Boy is such an interesting character and it immediately made me feel like I was 1350.

The way Boy talks is very much from a different time, and at first I wasn’t sure what exactly his secret was, but I have to say I loved it (I do not want to spoil you, but that was my favourite part and how that mixes with the adventures of Secundus).

Boy is delightful, the lines between heaven, hell and earth blur beautifully. Relics are all the rage and life is so different, yet at the same time some things don’t change, do they? It not only mixes fantasy but religion, beliefs and a simple way of life. And it was very interesting to see Boy talking to animals and understanding them.

What are you waiting for? Go read The Book of Boy.

Moon recommends

When I read The Book of Boy, I was reminded a lot of Cadfael’s mysteries, so why not try Ellis Peters’ books?

Book Review

Black Curtain Call Review

Posted on August 24, 2018

Black Curtain Call by Nikki Welton

When 17-year-old Ivy is wrongly accused of a crime during a live performance in a theater she is desperately trying to save from closing, she must run for her life.

With the help of the director, who owns an ancient key to the theater vaults, Ivy, her best friend, Cole, and her sister, together open a passage to medieval Scotland, where the real knight Macbeth and King Duncan are at the height of their powers. But the escape route comes at an unexpected price: Ivy and her friends must play the roles of their lives, impersonating their real past selves. Unless they learn to trust each other more than the malicious whispers of three prophesying witches, the four of them might be lost forever in the world of royal intrigues and murder. This time Ivy must prevent the crime from happening and capture the culprit, or her own fate will change irrevocably.

If she can uncover the reason why the key thrust her into such a hostile world, Ivy might influence her future by altering the past to save the theater and find her way back home.

Rating:

Disclaimer: I was provided this book by the author in exchange for an honest review.

A second disclaimer, I am not a big fan of Shakespeare retellings. But this is probably my favourite one.

As I finished this, my thoughts all end up in one. I wish Ivy had enjoyed the ride more. She’s trying so hard to go back to the theater that it felt like she wasn’t living in the moment. (And I mean, if you’re transported to the past and one of your past selves, why not figure things out and enjoy it?).

The others seem to get into character better. Does that mean Ivy maybe isn’t suited for theater? Who knows? I did ponder on this more than I probably should, but if she can’t act in the past, who says she can in the present?

It was an interesting “retelling” of Macbeth, the idea was way better than the original. However, Ivy’s attitude kept getting in the way of enjoying it as much as I think I would. (Also, why is she friends with Cole? I would’ve ditched him years ago).

If Shakespeare is your thing, you’ll enjoy this book.

Moon recommends

If you like retellings, go read Black Curtain Call. Or you can give The Queens of Innis Lear a go.

Book Review

Onyx & Ivory Review

Posted on August 18, 2018

Onyx & Ivory by Mindee Arnett

They call her Traitor Kate. It’s a title Kate Brighton inherited from her father after he tried to assassinate the high king years ago. Now Kate lives as an outcast, clinging to the fringes of society as a member of the Relay, the imperial courier service. Only those most skilled in riding and bow hunting ride for the Relay; and only the fastest survive, for when dark falls, the nightdrakes—deadly flightless dragons—come out to hunt. Fortunately, Kate has a secret edge: she is a wilder, born with magic that allows her to influence the minds of animals. But it’s this magic that she needs to keep hidden, as being a wilder is forbidden, punishable by death or exile. And it’s this magic that leads her to a caravan massacred by nightdrakes in broad daylight—the only survivor her childhood friend, her first love, the boy she swore to forget, the boy who broke her heart.

The high king’s second son, Corwin Tormane, never asked to lead. Even as he waits for the uror—the once-in-a-generation ritual to decide which of the king’s children will succeed him—he knows it’s always been his brother who will assume the throne. And that’s fine by him. He’d rather spend his days away from the palace, away from the sight of his father, broken with sickness from the attempt on his life. But the peacekeeping tour Corwin is on has given him too much time to reflect upon the night he saved his father’s life—the night he condemned the would-be killer to death and lost the girl he loved. Which is why he takes it on himself to investigate rumors of unrest in one of the remote city-states, only for his caravan to be attacked—and for him to be saved by Kate.

With their paths once more entangled, Kate and Corwin have to put the past behind them. The threat of drakes who attack in the daylight is only the beginning of a darker menace stirring in the kingdom—one whose origins have dire implications for Kate’s father’s attack upon the king and will thrust them into the middle of a brewing civil war in the kingdom of Rime.

Rating:

Buddy read again, and yes that is an exclusive edition from LitJoy that has extra artwork and is signed.

One of the things that puzzles me about the book is the title. Onyx & Ivory, black and white. But nothing in this book is black and/or white. I mean of course there are things that are one colour or the other, but the book is more about all the nuances of things than about it being black or white.

Nevermind, that is me musing over semantics and choice of words.

I enjoyed this book, I started feeling for Pip (which was a heartbreaking start), found Signe to be the right kind of fun friend to have (even if she is herself and well, sometimes that is a bit too much).

The way Kate (and Corwin too) grows through the story was one fo my favourite things. As she is trying to figure out what she wants out of life and trying to shake off the whole “Traitor Kate”.

Another thing I really liked was how not everything happens in one day or just in a couple of days. But rather it feels more natural to have a longer time span for events to happen which for once didn’t make me think “instantaneous” but rather go “oh yeah, makes sense”.

And of course I now need the next book because that ending left me wanting to just plunge into the next book.

Moon recommends

Reading Onyx and Ivory, and something slightly similar would be Heart of Thorns (the same feeling but not the same story and each is unique).

Book Review

Heart of Thorns Review

Posted on August 12, 2018

Heart of Thorns by Bree Barton

In the ancient river kingdom, touch is a battlefield, bodies the instruments of war. Seventeen-year-old Mia Rose has pledged her life to hunting Gwyrach: women who can manipulate flesh, bones, breath, and blood.

Not women. Demons. The same demons who killed her mother without a single scratch.

But when Mia’s father suddenly announces her marriage to the prince, she is forced to trade in her knives and trousers for a sumptuous silk gown. Only after the wedding goes disastrously wrong does she discover she has dark, forbidden magic—the very magic she has sworn to destroy.

Rating:

I buddy read this book and of course I ended up pulling a “Moon” (this means I stuck to the buddy read for a few days and then finished the book instead of stopping at the designated place). However, it has been one of our most positive buddy reads, and I was enjoying this book a lot.

One of my favourite things is that some of the cliche roles are reversed, and how Mia starts managing/understanding feelings. Her growth and her naivity were interesting.

Also, without spoiling, that ending left me wanting so much more and also there were a lot of twists that were unexpected. (How can you review this and explain how much they surprised you when you want to skip spoilers?!)

Moon recommends

Why not give this book a try? I’d also like to recommend The Last Namsara, or The Hero and The Crown, all of them with great “heroines” that learn a lot about themselves and magic through this (sadly Heart of Thorns doesn’t have dragons, which the other two do).

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.

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.