A Bookworm's Book Reviews

Katabasis – R. F. Kuang

Title: Katabasis

Author: R. F. Kuang

Genre: Fantasy, Historical Fiction

Plot: Professor Jacob Grimes is dead and it’s Alice Law’s fault. Now she’s going to hell to save him. Not before Peter Murdoch joins her. He says he wants to save Professor Grimes, too. Both are his students, studying different aspects of magick. Together they use their magick to travel to and through hell to find the Professor. As they travel, they see why their plan might not be the best idea. Alice and Peter meet shades how help and hinder them along their journey. Then they learn about the Krepkies. They hunt any living person who’s traveling through hell. Their beasts taunt the shades living in hell. And they now they’re hunting Peter and Alice. Can Peter and Alice find Professor Grimes? Or is finding the Professor really what they’re searching for? Will the shades stop their journey? Or will the Krepkies put an end to their journey?

Rating: 4.3 – an interesting tale of finding what you’re really searching for

Opinion: This was an interesting book. I really liked the idea that hell appeared different for all the people who’ve journeyed through it. I thought it fitting that Alice and Peter had to suffer through university and that the shades were writing dissertations and thesis papers. Even in hell, they couldn’t escape graduate student life. That really does seem like hell in real life. The plot of the book was different than what I’ve been reading lately. It starts with the tragedy and as the characters travel through hell, you learn why they’re doing what they’re doing. The beginning of the book starts with them going to hell, too. While I don’t usually read a ton of journey books, the author does a good job with pacing and keeping the flow going. It kept me interested in the book and the characters. I liked the character growth in the books. They learn and grow from their travels. There’s even some side characters who learn a thing or two from the main characters. I found their changes of heart about their original intentions changed slowly throughout their journey. There was a lot of growth for the characters. There was a lot of ‘is this really what I want?’ moments. Overall, I really enjoyed this story. It’s a great story about finding what you really want out of life. I highly recommend this to anyone who wants a fantasy journey.

The Shadow Key – Susan Stokes-Chapman

Title: The Shadow Key

Author: Susan Stokes-Chapman

Genre: Historical Fiction, Mystery

Plot: Dr. Henry Talbot has recently been dismissed from his position at his London hospital. After months of job searching, he takes a position at Plas Helyg, an English owned mansion in the Welsh countryside. Lord Julian Tresilian is the owner and Henry’s employer. Henry’s job is to care for Lord Julian’s ailing aunt, Gwen, his cousin, Linette, and the Welsh tenants that live on the property. Linette is Gwen’s daughter and has grown up at Plas Helyg. She’s come to know to local Welsh people. She helps serve as Henry’s guide and translator for the Welsh townsfolk. The local people are distrustful of Henry and few are outright hostile. But strange things have been happening as soon as Henry arrived. He was shot at by an unknown person on his way to the mansion. The guest house had been ransacked. Henry finds a strange bottle with unknown contents. Henry takes it upon himself to investigate. His findings lead him deep into the mansion’s past. Then he learns of shady dealings at the mines Lord Julian owns. It adds to Henry’s suspicions that his employer has some unsavory connections. But what does Lord Julian truly want? What is real going on at Plas Helyg? Can Henry find out what’s really going on? Or will whomever’s behind the attacks get the best of everyone?

Rating: 4.0 – an interesting historical fiction mystery

Opinion: This was an interesting book. I enjoyed the history of the book. It felt well researched and accurate. The distrust of the local Welsh people made sense if you know even a little bit of Welsh history. There’s lots of local legends and myths that were blended into the book. Part of me was glad some of the mythology in the book wasn’t explained. It left a nice little bit of magic in the book. The over part of me wanted to know more because they glanced over it during the end monologues. That’s one of the things that bugged me. The characters that ended up being the ‘bad guys’ had big monologues and long explanations. It didn’t really fit the story for me. It didn’t fell like the right time or place. I’m all for explanations and reasoning but it felt a little too dramatic for me. There was a bit too many plot twists for me that didn’t have a ton of lead up but gave the characters good motivations. It was still good ‘oh that’s why that it’s like that’ moments. Those things still kind of made it a little too dramatic for me.A fun tidbit is that there’s a little Welsh pronunciation guide at the beginning of the book. But, overall I really did enjoy this book. I highly recommend it to anyone who likes historical fiction mysteries.

Book of Temeraire 2 & 3 – Naomi Novik

Book 1 is His Majesty’s Dragon

Title: Book 2 – Throne of Jade, Book 3 – Black Powder War

Author: Naomi Novik

Genre: Historical Fiction, Fantasy

Plot: Book 2 – John Laurence and his dragon, Temeraire, have been summoned to China to return Temeraire to the Chinese royal family. On their journey, they encounter troubles with the French and sea dragons. There’s also some strange occurrences during their travels. Most of the crew brush it off. Once they arrive, someone in the royal family wants to see Laurence and Temeraire separated. It grows less subtle. The pair also learn how different life is for dragons in China than in Europe. Temeraire starts to enjoy his life in China. Laurence still has his suspicions and shares them with Temeraire. But who is really behind the subtle attacks on Laurence and Temeraire? Will they succeed? Or will Laurence stop them before they can do too much harm?

Book 3 – John Laurence and Temeraire have decided to return to England. They want to show Europe that there are other ways to care for dragons. Temeraire is eager to make changes. Laurence is a little more realistic. They receive orders to stop in Turkey to acquire new dragon eggs. But complications soon arise. There are mysterious disappearances of people and money. Officials say the makes their agreement null and void. After asking around, the crew find the missing money and the fate of people. Then they make their great escape and nab a couple eggs. The crew stop in Prussia. The Prussians told Laurence they were expecting help from the British and Laurence will have to do. Then Napoleon’s forces appear and they engage them in battle. Will Laurence and Temeraire’s help be enough? Or will Napoleon’s forces overwhelm them?

Rating: 4.0 – a slow and steady historical fantasy

Opinion: This was a great continuation of an interesting historical fantasy series. There was lots of details in the history of the time period. There were parts in the third book that made realize that Napoleon got super lucky with some of the battles. He was also great at overwhelming his enemies and catching them unprepared. There’s also great details in the different types of dragons. Each country has different breeds of dragons. Each dragon breed has different abilities and tasks. I liked that the author had different ways people and dragons work together in different countries. I liked that the dragons in China had a wider variety of tasks in China than in Europe. I thought Temeriare and Laurence’s plan to bring change to England and Europe after their trip to China was a fun addition. Though, I do applaud the author for keeping that plan realistic. The pace of the stories was a little slow for me. There’s a lot of description to the places the crew visit and creatures they see. The story tends to focus more on the characters in some areas than moving the plot along. The third book also had a lot of mini stories within main story. Though I am glad that one part of the third story came back in the end of that book. The second book had a more straightforward plot. I appreciated that a little more than a bunch of little stories. Overall, I did enjoy this continuation of the series. It was a nice change to the higher action stories I’ve been reading. I recommend this to anyone who loves well planned, historical fantasy series.

Nibbles the Book Monster – Emma Yarlet

Title: Nibbles the Book Monster

Author/Illustrator: Emma Yarlet

Genre: Kids Book, Picture Book

Plot: Nibbles is a cute little monster. Then he escapes his cage and eats his way through the book. Follow Nibbles through the book and try to catch him before he escapes the pages.

Rating: 4.5 – a cute and funny kids book

Opinion: This was a cute book. One of the kids I work with brought it to school and we read it to the class. The kids loved it. They thought Nibbles was hilarious. They wanted the teachers to read it again and again. I thought it was clever how the book has ‘torn’ and ‘eaten’ pages throughout. There were clues and tracks for the kids to find, too. The kids liked finding where Nibbles was hiding or where he’d escaped on every page. As an added bonus, there’s four other Nibbles books for you and your kids to read. I highly recommend this book for your kids. It’ll make them laugh every time.

Good Spirits – B.K. Borison

Title: Good Spirits

Author: B.K. Borison

Genre: Romance

Plot: Harriet York is being haunted by the Ghost of Christmas Past. His name is Nolan Callahan. He needs to help Harriet find the error of her ways before Christmas. It should be another easy assignment for Nolan. Except Harriet seems to be the opposite of the people Nolan usually helps. She’s kind and caring and full of Christmas spirit. So Harriet and Nolan find a way to work together and find out why they were paired together. Nolan takes Harriet to the past to see why Harriet was chosen to be haunted by the Ghost of Christmas Past. And the more time they spend together, the more they learn they might be connected. Since they’re working together, the more they help each other become better people. They quickly become more than just friends. But can Nolan and Harriet figure out why they’re connected? Or will their time run out?

Rating: 4.0 – a different take on A Christmas Carol

Opinion: This was a super cute book. I really liked this take on A Christmas Carol. It was a fun idea to make the Ghost of Past, Present, and Future a job of sorts for people who’ve passed away. I liked that the author included the other ghost jobs, like a grim reaper, and management levels of ghost jobs as well. That was a clever touch. I’d love to learn about other ghost jobs and how they work in another book. I liked that Harriet wasn’t the normal ‘Scrooge’ like character. But her and Nolan still tried to work together to find out why they got paired together. I also liked that Nolan helped remind her of her true value beyond her family’s expectations and values. And that Harriet helped Nolan find his purpose and meaning again. The two of them worked hard to help each other and work together to make each other better. I found it interesting that they knew their relationship wouldn’t work out but tried it out anyway. Though I found the relationship revelation in the book was kind of anticlimactic for me. There was this big hidden thing that kind of fizzled into nothing. I wished there’d a little more to it. I also thought that one or two of Nolan’s things with his boss were a little distracting to the plot and weren’t necessary for the story. Overall, I really enjoyed this sweet story. I highly recommend this book for anyone who needs another PG-13 Hallmark Christmas story.

We’ll Prescribe You a Cat – Syou Ishida

This is book 1 in the Cat Prescription series. Book 2 is We’ll Prescribe You Another Cat

Title: We’ll Prescribe You a Cat

Author: Syou Ishida

Translator: E. Madison Shimoda

Genre: Realistic Fiction, Short Stories

Plot: The Kokoro Clinic for the Soul is a hidden gem in Kyoto, Japan. Most people hear about it through a friend of a friend. It’s said you can’t find the clinic unless you need to. Most clients need help with their mental health. The doctor there prescribes clients cats to help with their problems. The clients are confused and skeptical at first. How will a cat help them with their problems? They reluctantly take their cat home. Of course they’ll come back and complain at first. Then they finally realize why a cat can be beneficial to their life. Five different cats help five people and their families.

Rating: 4.5 – a cute collection of short stories

Opinion: This was such a cute collection of stories. It was a fun way to describe the cat distribution system. This was one of those books that I kept seeing around and finally decide to read it. I got a kick out of the ‘ “I don’t want a cat!” but ends up loving the cat theme.’ I liked idea that you can only find the clinic if you’re looking for it and if you need it. I also liked that the clinic seemed liked a foster cat system for shelter cats. There were so many people who benefited from taking the cat home, not just the people who were prescribed a cat. There are so many benefits to owning a cat. As the book was originally published in Japan, they kept all of the character names and city names the same, which I appreciated. Thankfully Japanese can be easier to figure out how to pronounce. It’s fairly phonetic, but takes a second to completely wrap your head around how to pronounce the words. There was one short story that I wanted more to read more about and another that much longer than the others. I get that the author probably wanted to put more information about how the clinic worked in that story, but I wanted it more spread out in the other stories. Overall, I really did love this collection of short stories. It’s an easy read and great for any cat lovers.

Lovelight Farms – B.K. Borison

Title: Lovelight Farms

Author: B.K. Borison

Genre: Romance

Plot: Stella has been trying to keep her Christmas tree farm alive for the past year. But there’s been missing shipments, dying trees, and a family of raccoons living in the Santa barn. So she’s just trying to stay afloat as this farm is her dream come true. Then Stella sees an opportunity to save her farm. Evelyn St. James has a famous social media account and is having a contest with a $100,000 prize. But there’s a catch. When Stella applied for the contest, she lied and said she runs the farm with her boyfriend. Expect there’s no boyfriend. So she asks her long time best friend, Luka, to be her fake boyfriend while Evelyn is visiting Stella’s farm. Luka is more than happy to help Stella. They promise that whatever happens with Evelyn’s contest, they’ll remain friends after their fake relationship ends. There’s a possibility that they could be more than just friends by the end of it. But can they keep their relationship going strong while Evelyn’s around? Or will Evelyn find out the truth?

Rating: 4.0 – a fun Christmas time romance

Opinion: I really enjoyed this sweet Christmas time romance. I enjoyed that all of Stella’s friends supported her and her business. They wanted to see her succeed and believed she could’ve proven herself without a boyfriend to sell her story to Evelyn. I liked that Stella and Luka were good friends for such a long time before starting their fake romance. It made their relationship easier to fake. I liked that they set boundaries for each other before they started their relationship and told each other if they were crossing a line. I liked that they apologized to each other and talked through things. I liked the small town talk and bets on when Stella and Luka would start dating. I thought it funny that that was the true thing that complicated things with Evelyn. I really liked how that the plot line with Evelyn worked out. The one thing that kind of bugged me was that the plot line with the missing shipments, dead and drying trees, and so forth seemed to wrap up a little too nicely for me. It seemed a little too easy that they caught the person, they confessed, and wanted a cheesy reason they wanted to ruin the farm. It seemed a little out of left field for me. But it kind of redeemed itself because they were able to use the complications for good and save the farm. A little FYI, but the bonus chapter at the end doesn’t really help the plot much. It gives very little info about the plot and an extra steamy scene to the book. So you really don’t have to read it if you don’t want to. Overall, this a cute Christmas time romance. It really felt like a PG-13 Hallmark romance. I recommend this book for anyone who loves Hallmark Christmas romances.

Vera Wong’s Guide to Snooping (on a Dead Man) – Jesse Q. Sutanto

This is book 2 in the Vera Wong Series. Book 1 is Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers

Title: Vera Wong’s Guide to Snooping (on a Dead Man)

Author: Jesse Q. Sutanto

Genre: Mystery

Plot: Vera Wong feels bored with life. It’s been a year since someone died in her tea shop. She desperately wants more excitement in her life again. Then she gets a scam call and tells her police officer friend Selena, who also happens to be dating Vera’s son Tilly. Vera runs into a young woman named Millie outside the police station. They strike up a conversation and Vera learns that Millie’s friend Thomas has gone missing. Vera takes it upon herself to look into Thomas’s disappearance. Thanks to some snooping at Selena and Tilly’s place, Vera learns that Thomas died and it’s probably a suicide. But she doesn’t believe that. So, Vera does what she did last time and gathers up all possible suspects at her house and feeds them. She gets to know each of them and sees who’s behind Thomas’s death. But this time, she uses her new friends, and the new suspects, to use the internet to her advantage. But her new people are hiding deep secrets about how well they actually knew Thomas. So, who was Thomas really? Can Vera solve the case? Or is she in way over her head this time?

Rating: 4.5 – a fun, light hearted murder mystery

Opinion: I really enjoyed the this book. I had high hopes for this one since I loved the first one so much. I thank my book club for helping me find the first one. This one still had the same messages of loneliness, and the importance of family, friends, and community. But made it different and relatable. I liked that the author talked about how easy it is to fake things online. It’s easy to make your life seem perfect and the addiction of likes and views when you post things. But it shows the ugly side of comment section and the ache you can feel when you feel like you can’t compete with what others are posting. I enjoyed seeing Vera Wong bring more people together again. The new characters bring new adventures to Vera and her family from the last book. They do a great job of helping Vera expand her family and helping them with the new problems in this book. They have great character development. Everyone learns important lessons and learn and grow from their experiences. Vera always brings a smile to my face with all of her antics to try and help the people in her life. I like that everyone else is always so supportive of Vera as well. They know they can’t always stop her, but they can be there to protect her. Something I found interesting, and never really thought about, was phone scam rings. I guess it makes more sense that people are working in groups to scam as many people as possible. But it was extra despicable in the book that the bad guys were using children for their scams. But I’m glad they were brought them to justice in the end. Overall, I loved this book and I’m glad I found the sequel. Part of me hopes there more books in this series. Though, just happy there was a second one. I highly recommend this book for anyone who wants a happier, simpler murder mystery.

Letters from Father Christmas – J.R.R. Tolkien

Title: Letters from Father Christmas

Author: J.R.R. Tolkien

Genre: Fantasy, Children’s Book

Plot: Over the course of 23 years Father Christmas wrote letters to the Tolkien children. He thanks them for the letters and what’s been going on at the North Pole. Some years the North Polar Bear knocked over half of the annual fireworks. Other times Goblins attacked or stole the presents. Some years they were able to have a great bonfire and feasts. Every year Father Christmas tries to include a drawing of the year’s events. He’s always grateful for their letters. He continually writes until the kids outgrow Father Christmas.

Rating: 4.0 – a cute little collection of letters from Santa to a family’s kids

Opinion: This was such a cute book. I enjoyed seeing another side of Tolkien’s works. He’s such a clever and creative author. I enjoyed seeing how much effort he went through to write letters to his kids as Santa. And that he could find new things to write each year and could continue his story from the previous years. I loved the pictures Tolkien included with the letters. It’s a very sweet addition for his kids. I’m glad he still remembered to include his older kids in his letters even though they were addressed to the younger ones. The letters made me want to do something like this for my kids someday, if I ever have kids. I highly recommend this book to read to your kids at Christmas time.

The Memory Collectors – Kim Neville

Title: The Memory Collectors

Author: Kim Neville

Genre: Fantasy

Plot: Evelyn, or Ev for short, has a unique ability. She can feel emotions that people have left on ordinary objects. Those emotions can rub off on others in unexpected ways. Ev knows this better than most. That’s why she’s super careful about handling those objects. That’s why she thinks those objects are better off destroyed. Then she meets Harriet. Harriet has been collecting those emotional objects her whole life. She’s been forced to relocate with those objects as they’re affecting her apartment neighbors. Harriet asks Ev for help, along with a mutual friend Oliver. Ev is hesitant at first, but accepts. Then Ev’s sister Noemi shows up unexpectedly. Noemi wants to know more about their family’s past. Ev is reluctant to share. Bu the more they help Harriet, the more the past comes up. Noemi learns why Ev wants to keep the past buried. Harriet learns that all those emotional objects can come with price. But what is really hiding in Ev and Noemi’s past? What is the true cost of all of Harriet’s objects?

Rating: 3.5 – a different style of hidden pasts and magical objects

Opinion: This was an interesting book. It intrigued me that objects carried a strong emotional tie to the previous owners and that they could affect the new owners in similar ways. I liked that idea because we have emotional connections to things in real life. I liked that objects could lose their potency with time and space. I liked that different characters had different ways to interact and keep themselves safe from the objects with strong emotions. I liked that there were different ways that the characters felt about the emotional objects and called them by different names. I didn’t love the writing style of the book. Parts of the book seemed a little jumbled and not as clear as I would’ve liked. Some of the character jumps were unclear and took me a second to realize that story was continuing from a different point of view. It made it a little harder for met to connect with the characters. I wish that there were better character development for some of the characters. I also feel like the plot got lost a little bit. It kept getting side tracked by all the different points of view in the story. I wish I had a better explanation for certain things that happened in the book. Overall, I feel like this book had good ideas but kind of fell flat. It probably just not a good book for me. I’d recommend this book for anyone who wants a realistic style fantasy.