This Night So Dark (Starbound #1.5) by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner

I read (and fell in love with) These Broken Stars, and since I already have This Shattered World,  I was looking forward to reading This Night So Dark.

The one problem I have with this series so far is that the stories are really slow to start. I think it took me over a week to get past These Broken Stars' first chapter, and I only read on because I was trapped in a waiting room with nothing else to read.

In retrospective, I'm glad of it because it turned out to be my favourite book of 2014!

The same issue occurs in this novella: it's sloooooooow and when it gets to the good bits they don't last long enough (since this is a novella) to really catch my interest. 

That's not to say it wasn't good, my lack of enjoyment is merely a reflection of my disappointment when my expectations for this novella weren't met. 

Kaufman and Spooner can write, and the quality of their writing is alive and well here. 

Plus, we did get some Lila/Tarver snippets, and since they're my OTP...

Anyway, it's really short and FREE!

So go read it!

Read This Night So Dark

@ scribd

Beastkeeper by Cat Hellisen

Arc provided by Henry Holt & Company through Netgalley
Release Date: February 3rd

I had to re-read this story immediately after I had finished it for first time, because with only one read, I honestly did not know what to say.

First of all, I loved its first pages: They had that bitter-sweet tone of well done magical realism, and they held so much promise.

We get immediately thrown into this family's live, and we can see that something isn't quite right. Besides the obvious that is...

 Page after page we get sucked into Sarah's life, and how in the span of a few days everything she knows gets replaced by something out of a fantasy book.

Sarah is only thirteen, and she's not ready for what is coming into her life...in fact, I don't think anyone would, because all of a sudden she finds herself surrounded by a strange reality and sharing an existence with characters that aren't exactly loving, or trustworthy.

This means that there's a lot of crying, which is comprehensible.

Especially since  this tale follows the path of the "old school of fairy tales", the one in which things happen because so...in which events mostly take a turn for the worse...where most characters are as flawed as possible, and finally where HEA is mostly a vague dream.

There are however some elements here whose presence, I found somewhat strange considering this is a supposed middle grade book ...

First Sarah has some serious tstl actions. Number one, the walking alone in a wood part, because doing things that adults say you shouldn't do are appealing...

 Then there's meeting an older boy in those same woods because so.

Yes, it is vital for the plot, but...

o_O

O_o

*shakes head*

For me this book has a serious identity crises.

First of all, I don't think this will appeal to the middle grade readers: the writing, the plot, the *oh, there goes my heart!* part. Too cruel for them, I think.

For the YA audience?

They want romance. Thankfully there isn't one in here. There's seeds _really strange seeds considering the characters ages. THE DIFFERENCE! _, but there isn't an actual romance.

Adults....

Yes, I think we are the most logical target, but once one starts analysing this and that.. *sight*

For instance, there's a part in which we are told that the curse affects the women and the man differently ...but in reality that's not quite so.

Then we have characters who apparently have thousands of years, and I wanted to know more about their lives.

I needed more backstory.

For me this had everything to be a five star book, but I could have used more development in certain parts of the narrative...however, _and especially with the re-read _ I have to say that despite the TSTL moments, and other elements, I ended up "falling" for this book.

And, now I am curious about the author's other works.

 Author's Official Site

Pre-order "Beastkeeper":

@Bookdepository.com

Bee and Puppycat 01-05 by Natasha Allegri

So I started watching the series (it's all on Youtube!) and I love it, it's so cute!

And it's safe to say that the comics are very, very much like the series, both in the good and in the bad.

The good:

It's super duper cute!

Finally something girlie and magical like Sailor Moon with unapologetic frills and pink bows.

It has addictive plots!

The artwork has that watercolour background dreamy quality to it, while the characters are bolder and just give you the warm fuzzies.

Automatic shipping and enslaved to OTP from the very pilot!

Amazing background story!

The bad:

Lack of definite direction.

Refusal to follow a plot line to the end.

Frustrating cliff hangers which are not addressed in the next episode/issue.

It's like the creators are so into the world and characters they've drawn into life, and have soooo many things they've been dying to do, that they forsake continuity and kind of lose the audience while doing so.

For instance:

The Space Outlaw!

Turned into a monster, the Space Outlaw is... somewhere... and may be... somebody we already know.

But aside from being a one time story to distract Wallace, the fish who misses his mermaid mother, we never go back to it!

And more:

Bee and Deckard obviously have feelings towards each other. He looks after her, his sister know he likes Bee, Bee messages him in the middle of the night so they can cook together.

...And we learn that Deckard has been accepted into a fancy culinary school but is postponing acceptance because he doesn't want to leave Bee.

We see him in the pilot. We see him in the first episode. And in the comics not at all. That's it.

Don't get me wrong, I love the episodes and the comics, but they're frustrating for these reasons.

I'm still going to keep watching/reading because:

a) I love Puppycat

b) I love Bee

c) I really, really hope the shows and comics will find a direction!

Natasha Allegri' Tumblr

Buy Bee and Puppycat comics

@ Boom Studios

Watch Bee and Puppycat

@ Youtube

2014 Best Reads by Isa

This wasn't exactly the greatest year for me, and that, unfortunately, reflected itself on how much I read, and subsequently reviewed here (thank God for Susana, for keeping this boat floating!).

Still, there were quite a few very nice books I had the privilege of reading!

This book was such an absolute delight!

It's been nearly a year since I've read it, and I still think about it.

Not only is the artwork AMAZING, but it holds a special place in my heart among all mermaid stories.

In The Mermaid and the Shoe, Minnow, our little mermaid (and isn't Minnow just the greatest name for a little mermaid?) finds a shoe and makes it her mission to find out its purpose. 

The thing is, once she finds out what shoes are for, she's just as horrified as her mermaid sisters! Feet?! What horrible things! It's much nicer to have beautiful fins!

And isn't that an unusual thing to find in a mermaid story? Mermaids who are happy to be as they are and can't fathom the need to get icky things like feet?

You can read my review here!

I was lucky enough to start off the year with what turned out to be my favourite book of 2014!

It's been 11 months since I've read it and I can't even contemplate re-reading it because... all these FEELS!

Lilac and Tarver are almost up there with Katniss and Peeta as an OTP. Which is something I thought would never happen...

This book... I laughed, I cried, I lived every moment along with these two, I was scared, I was hopeful, I felt like I was there.

I like how the authors avoided the pitfalls of contemporary YA books: the romance isn't the main focus, survival is the main focus, a strong and clever heroine, a non-creepy and clever hero... I could go on and on, but I'm just going to say: read this book!

You can read my review here!

Over the Garden Wall Special Issue 1 by Pat McHale and Jim Campbell

So, I marathoned the whole Over The Garden Wall series and am quite desperate to convince everyone to do the same.

Here you go, watch this intro:

Want to watch it yet? Then go watch it, my review can wait!!

Anyway, if you've already watched it and want to know how this actual comic is like, here we go:

This special takes place between the first few episodes of the series. Wirt, Greg, Beatrice, and the Frog encounter four wayward soldiers of "the Commonwealth" sailing the wheat fields in an upside down bicorne, in search of battle.

Greg climbs aboard with Frog and joins them right away, leaving Wirt and Beatrice to climb aboard the hat as well. 

Turns out they're not actually following the call of battle, but the call of cattle. While they prepare to hoist the non-existent flag once a cow gives out the call of cattle, chaos strikes in the form of apple trees, who defeat them most soundly.

Beatrice, tired of this foolishness, decides to take measures into her own... wings?

What will happen?! You'll have to read it to find out ;)

Now make haste:

and go

Pat McHale's twitter

Jim Campbell's site

Susana's 2014 Reads

2014 is practically over, and it is time to make a balance of how many books we've read, and most importantly what we've read.

I normally don't do this...mainly because I am too lazy to do it o_O, but people on Booklikes have put me to shame, so I decided to give it a try as well :)

This year I am somewhat left with the feeling that I didn't had a good reading year.

So, let's see:

The Five Star ratings :

     

 

The Four and a Half Star ratings: