Mini Reviews - My February Wrap-Up

Hi guys! Today I'll be reviewing 3 of the books I read last month. So in February I read 7 books. To see all the books I read and the rating I gave each one of them, feel free to check out my Goodreads shelf by clicking here ^^

And now let's start with the reviews...

Carry On by Rainbow Rowell

Genre: YA Fantasy 

My Rating: 5 stars

The Plot: Simon Snow is the Chosen One and he is about to begin his last year at Watford School of Magicks. This new school year comes with a fair share of mortal danger and magical enemies, which Simon’s pretty much used to by now. What’s new though is that his roommate and arch nemesis, the vampire Baz, is strangely missing this year. Between obsessing about the whereabouts and evil intentions of Baz and preparing for an unavoidable confrontation with the great evil he was prophesized to end, Simon has quite a lot on his mind this year. With its mix of drama, magic and the occasional ghost sighting, this is the story of a Chosen One unlike any you’ve met before.

My Review: If you think this is a mere parody of Harry Potter, think again! The book takes the usual tropes of fantasy books and chosen ones and twists them in completely new directions. The characters were all fresh spins on usual clichés such as the chosen one, his love interest, his arch nemesis, his wise mentor and his side-kick. The pacing was excellent, cut in with the right among of magic and action and more dramatic and slower scenes. You don't need to read Fangirl to enjoy this book. Carry On is a fantastic book of its own and my only regret is that we don't actually have seven books-worth of it! 

Stars Above by Marissa Meyer

Genre: YA Fantasy, Anthology 

My Rating: 5 stars

The Plot: Between a retelling of The Little Mermaid, the story of how a princess fell in love with her guard and a dash back in time in some of our favorite characters’ past, this short story collection presents nine stories set in Marissa Meyer’s Lunar Chronicles, including five which have never before been published. And to complete the collection, there is an epilogue to Winter that no fan of the Lunar Chronicles would want to miss…

My Review: Sometimes nostalgic, sometimes simply sweet, these stories were all beautiful and really added to the already fantastical world of the Lunar Chronicles. We get glimpses in the past of both main and supporting characters and we get to see how our favorite characters got to the point where they were when we first meet them in the books. The show stealer of this collection was definitely the last story. I'm not going to say anything about it except that it features the most beautiful wedding ever ^^ If you loved the Lunar Chronicles, you need Stars Above in your life! And preferably right now!

Furiously Happy by Jenny Lawson

Genre: Nonfiction, Memoir 

My Rating: 4 stars

The Plot: In her autobiographical book, Jenny Lawson opens the discussion on depression, anxiety and mental illness in a relatable and hopeful way that will allow many readers to connect to her story. Through a mix of funny anecdotes and heartfelt confidences, Furiously Happy offers a fresh and upbeat approach to the discussion of mental illness.
 
My Review: This is an upbeat book about depression, which is honestly not something I’ve come across before. The reason why this book works is because it’s written by someone who knows what she’s talking about because she lives through it every day. Jenny Lawson is sincere and never tries to sugar-coat her struggles. And yet, she stills manages to deliver her story with humor. With a narrative voice which is both sincere and humorous, she never shies away from discussing the more difficult aspects of her struggles with her issues. Instead, she gives us a truthful overlook of what life can be for people facing mental illness.

Have you read any of the books mentioned here? Share your thoughts about them with me in the comments! Have a great March guys ^^

March gif source

After Alice by Gregory Maguire - Book Review (Spoiler Free)

Hi guys! Today I'll be reviewing my favorite book from last month, After Alice by Gregory Maguire. I thought I would write a single, in-depth but non-spoilerly review of this book because it's one I truly believe deserves a little more attention.

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If you've looked this book up on Goodreads, you might have noticed that this book seems to be getting lots of negative reviews. Well, this is something I want to address in today's post. See, although I think the low ratings are absolutely not justified, I do understand why people in general have given it low ratings. In this review I'll also go through all the reasons why I actually personally really loved After Alice.  

The Plot

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Meant as a tribute to the original Alice in Wonderland, After Alice follows the adventures of Alice's friend, Ada, as she stumbles through the rabbit hole after Alice. What ensues is a dreamlike trip through the whimsical world of Wonderland, unlike anything Victorian England born Ada could ever imagine. 

The Reasons Why I Loved After Alice 

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The prose: The writing was absolutely beautiful. Almost poetic. The author manages to weave his words in such a way that a few chapters into this book, it becomes very easy for the reader to imagine the dreamlike world of Wonderland. 

The characters: All the characters in this book had unique and well fleshed out personalities. Ada is in no way just another version of Alice. She's a child, yes, but at the same time, there's a maturity to her. She's pretty likable and that, too, despite not being your regular YA lead. She has a physical deformity but surprisingly, out of all the people in the story, she seems to be the least affected by it. Another character we spend a lot of time with is Lydia, Alice's older sister. When we first meet her, she seems a little shallow and not at all concerned by the disappearance of her sister. As we spend more time with her though, the complexity of her personality gradually shines through and we can't help but take a genuine interest in her own story line.   

The world-building: The setting was highly descriptive and very beautifully conceived. Maguire's Wonderland was amazingly dreamlike and highly reminiscent of Lewis Carroll's Wonderland while succeeding at the same time to be a whole new world of its own right. Maguire's Wonderland is both whimsical and highly imaginative and works both as a fan's dream come true and as a perfect homage to the original Wonderland. Part of the story is also set in Victorian England, which keeps the story close enough to the original work in terms of dialogue style and setting.

The atmosphere: Standing out as one of its best elements for me, the atmosphere of this book was also superbly rendered. You can simply feel you're in Wonderland. Honestly, there were times when the book even felt like a dream in that it didn't always made much sense but remained however beautiful throughout. 

It's a beautiful tribute to Alice in Wonderland: I love both Alice in Wonderland and Wicked, also by the author, and After Alice is the perfect book for any fan of both works. The book cover describes After Alice best, "A Christmas gift to the dear reader of Wicked in memory of Alice in Wonderland."

The Reasons Why It's Been Having Low Ratings Despite Being An Excellent Book

Front and back cover artwork. Image found here.

Misleading marketing: With the number of YA fairy tale and classic retellings which have been popping up on the literary scene lately, it's no surprise that After Alice got the 'fairy tale retelling' treatment marketing-wise. The promotion around this book wants you believe that you're about to read another retelling in the likes of Marissa Meyer's Lunar Chronicles or Brianna Shum's Peter Pan retelling Never, Never. After Alice is however more a tribute to Alice than an actual retelling, something most people didn't realize when they went into this book, hence the general disappointment with it.

It's been marketed to the wrong audience: After Alice has been marketed primarily to readers who tend to favor YA literature. Now, someone who reads predominantly YA, or any genre for that matter, learns over time to expect to find a specific language style and certain tropes in their books. That's where After Alice failed to impress because despite having a child as its main character, the book is neither written nor constructed like a YA novel. It's a brilliant novel, just not the kind a reader of YA would necessarily want to pick up.

The prose: The author writes with a style most young readers would describe as 'complex'. In fact, the language is similar to what we usually find in Gregory Maguire's adult books. Is the prose good though? Yes, absolutely. It's just not one young readers are necessarily used to.

The whimsical aspect of the book: Some readers have complained about some dialogues or scenes not making much sense. Here's a small fact: Wonderland is not actually supposed to make much sense. The same holds true for Lewis Carroll's original work as well and is in fact one of the things that makes Wonderland such a dreamlike place. We get so many fantasy novels with carefully laid out magical worlds that we've gotten used to fictional places we can easily envision and understand. It's no wonder then that some people were taken a little off-guard by the setting of After Alice. This takes nothing from the beauty of Maguire's story though.

It's a tribute, not a rip-off: Some people have complained about After Alice not even featuring Alice as a main character or being little more than a rip-off of the original work. After Alice is a tribute, not a retelling of Alice in Wonderland. It's supposed to be a little similar to the original book. And since it's not, in fact, a direct retelling, it's a little normal that the main character is one of Maguire's own making. 

Final Word

Artwork inspired from After Alice, featuring the book's actual characters, found here.

I ended up giving After Alice 5 stars and I absolutely plan to re-read it again. If you love Alice in Wonderland, if maybe you also even love Wicked, then do yourself a favor and pick up this book. The way I see it, After Alice is, simply put, a treat for fans of both works ^^

I hope you enjoyed this review! What was your favorite book of last month? Let me know in the comments :)

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Book Fangirling Blog Award

Hi guys. So today I'm doing the Book Fangirling Blog Award which, in my opinion, has the coolest name ever as far as awards go :D

I was nominated for this tag by the lovely Kaja over at Of Dragons and Hearts. This tag was originally created by the blogger Hannah and you can visit her blog here. 

• Create a post to accept your award
• Add the blog award button into your post
• Link to me in the post so they know who has given you the award
• Answer the questions I have set below
• Nominate 5 book bloggers who you think deserve this award
• Come up with your own 5 questions for your nominees
• Link them to this post so that they know the rules

What is the one book/series that you recommend the most?

Tiger Lily by Jodi Lynn Anderson. It's a beautiful Peter Pan retelling with Tiger Lily as the main character and love interest of Peter. It's beautiful and heartbreaking and simply amazing. See my review of Tiger Lily here.

What is your favourite thing about blogging?

Gushing about my favorite books ^^ I've mentioned this is previous posts, but I don't actually know a lot of book lovers in real life and in fact, it's kind of because I had no one to gush over my books with that I ended up started my book blog.

What book/series do you wish you could love more (i.e. a series that everyone seems to like but you)?

Usually if I don't love a book, I don't feel too much guilt about it to be honest XD. But I wish I could like Jane Austen's books more. My mum loves them, as do most people I know, but I really don't enjoy her books. I don't really mind that much though, lol. 

What 2016 release are you most excited about?

There are soooo many I could pick but I'm going to go with Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, the illustrated edition, which is set to come out in October I think. I'll probably freak out each time I see a spider in the book but oh well... it's Harry Potter :D

What is the craziest/bravest fangirling thing you ever did?

I haven't had much occasions to be a crazy fangirl given that I live in a small island in the Indian Ocean where we never get book signings, author events or even decent book events. So if I really need to pick something I did, it would probably be that one time I went on vacation with my family to Dubai and I ended up spending all of my money at Kinokuniya, an amazingly huge bookstore found in the Dubai Mall. I'm not kidding, I didn't even have enough money left afterwards to buy anything else XD.

Olivia @ Olivia's Catastrophe

Anissa @ The Bookworm Central

Melissa @ Melissa Lee's Many Reads

Lee @ Rally the Readers

Alex @ Alex Moreira Blog

1. What is the one book you would love to get a first edition of?
2. Would you rather visit Neverland or Wonderland? 
3. If you could invite all your favorite book characters to a party, who would you pick?
4. Have you already met one of your favorite authors before? If not, which author do you wish you could meet one day?
5. Which character would you love to dress up as? Or maybe you've already dressed up as a favorite character before? If, yes, share a picture ^^

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