2017 Challenge Check-In

I joined 4 reading challenges (including the general Goodreads challenge) in 2017. How'd I do?

Goodreads challenge: met! This the first time I have actually set a Goodreads challenge goal and met it (surpassed it, actually!), so *pats self on back*. I had set the goal of 50 books in the previous year and didn't even come close to that, so in 2017 I decided to be a little more realistic and hey, it worked! (It also was a little less stressful, because usually when I looked at the progress bar on the challenge image, it told me I was ahead of schedule, rather than constantly trying to catch up.)

The "Rock My TBR" challenge: met! This challenge (hosted by Sarah K from The YA Book Traveler) requires you to read a book each month that has already been published (i.e. not published that year). I actually ended up reading 19 books! Plus I only counted books that I already had physically on my shelves that I'd gotten before the start of 2017, because I really needed to make a dent in those. (All this excellent reading of books actually in my possession was kinda counteracted by me buying a TON of books this year from Book Outlet, but let's just ignore that part.)

The books I ended up reading for this challenge were:
- Between Here and Forever by Elizabeth Scott
- Kat, Incorrigible by Stephanie Burgis
- The Fault in Our Stars by John Green (yes, finally!)
- Sweet Evil by Wendy Higgins
- Blackwood by Gwenda Bond
- The Wrap-Up List by Steven Armtson
- This is Not a Test by Courtney Summers
- Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge
- A Face Like Glass by Frances Hardinge
- The Fairest of Them All by Carolyn Turgeon
- Goodbye, Rebel Blue by Shelley Coriell
- Jewel of the Thames by Angela Misri
- The Midnight Rose by Lucinda Riley
- The Midnight Queen by Sylvia Izzo Hunter
- Rabbit-Proof Fence by Doris Pilkington
- A Jane Austen Education by William Deresiewicz
- God Is in the Pancakes by Robin Epstein
- Charmed Life by Diana Wynne Jones
- Ingo by Helen Dunmore

The Historical Fiction Reading Challenge: met! This challenge was hosted by Passages to the Past. I decided to aim for a level I knew was attainable (the "Victorian Reader" level of 5 books), and yep, I attained it! I counted historical fantasy books as well as dual-timeline (contemporary/past) books, which totalled 11 books.

The books I ended up reading for this challenge were:
- Kat, Incorrigible by Stephanie Burgis
- Renegade Magic by Stephanie Burgis
- Stolen Magic by Stephanie Burgis - Keeping the Castle by Patrice Kindl
- Jewel of the Thames by Angela Misri
- The Midnight Rose by Lucinda Riley
- The Midnight Queen by Sylvia Izzo Hunter
- Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng
- Rose Cottage by Mary Stewart
- The Light-Keeper's Daughters by Jean E. Pendziwol
- The Other Me by Saskia Sarginson

The Flights of Fantasy Reading Challenge: unmet. This challenge was hosted by Alexa from Alexa Loves Books and Rachel from Hello, Chelly. I joined this one unofficially midway through the year, when I saw that I already had 15 fantasy books under my belt. I thought I could get to 25 by the end of the year, but sadly, only made it to 20 (and that's stretching the definition of fantasy to include more paranormal and sci-fi types of reads).

The books I ended up reading for this challenge were:
- Kat, Incorrigible by Stephanie Burgis
- Renegade Magic by Stephanie Burgis
- Stolen Magic by Stephanie Burgis - The Midnight Queen by Sylvia Izzo Hunter
- Sweet Evil by Wendy Higgins
- Blackwood by Gwenda Bond
- The Wrap-Up List by Steven Armtson
- This is Not a Test by Courtney Summers
- Charmed Life by Diana Wynne Jones
- Ingo by Helen Dunmore- Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge
- A Face Like Glass by Frances Hardinge
- The Fairest of Them All by Carolyn Turgeon
- Cress by Marissa Meyer
- Gilded Cage by Vic James
- The Song Rising by Samantha Shannon
- The Tethered Mage by Melissa Caruso
- Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard
- The Forgotten Book by Mecthild Gläser
- The Power by Naomi Alderman

How did you do on your reading challenges in 2017?

God Is In The Pancakes: A Rambling Review

God Is In The Pancakes by Robin Epstein

This book ended up being more intense than I was expecting. The quandary that Grace faces is one I can imagine being extremely gut-wrenching, with no easy answers. It brought home to me how important it is that in Canada physician-assisted dying is now legal (with strict criteria that must be met).

I really liked the main character Grace; she was a thoughtful, independent teen girl who strove to (usually) do the right thing – and yet she wasn't perfect. Her reflections on everything going on in her life felt very realistic and I could often relate to her mindset, even if I did not always agree with her choices.

Her relationship with Mr. Sands really stood out as unique in a YA novel; often we see peer friendships and romances being explored, but it's rare to see an inter-generational relationship. Having candystriped for a year in high school, this was a personal touch for me. There was one particular gentleman who was my favourite patient – just as Mr. Sands was for Grace – and who was such a lot of fun to spend time with. There is so much about a hospital setting that is depressing, but this story definitely highlighted that building a connection with a patient there can brighten it.

Sidenote, but: the speech-language pathologist in me was wondering why they didn't try some augmentative/alternative communication (AAC) methods with Mr. Sands as his ALS progressed to affecting his speech. There are technologies available nowadays that can operate voice output devices with eye movement only, for instance. Instead it seemed like he just wasn't given any means to communicate anymore!

4 shooting stars. 

 

The Midnight Rose: A Rambling Review (Adult)

The Midnight Rose by Lucinda Riley

I quite liked Anahita's voice and the historical chapters; in particular, the sections set in India felt fresh to me (I've read very few books with that setting). However, the modern-day sections dragged and I just found the conversations so boring and wordy. The dialogue seemed stilted and inauthentic at times. Generally, I think the book could have been pared down a lot more, to streamline the plot and avoid needless repetition.

I also found the story took a weird turn into the Gothic at the climax (spoiler, highlight to read: the whole scene where Rebecca is abducted by Lord Astbury) — I enjoy Gothic atmosphere and storytelling when that's what I'm expecting, but here it seemed a little out of place. There was also a psychological element that was explained in a confusing and potentially inaccurate way (spoiler: Lord Astbury was referred to as having schizophrenia, but then Dr. Trefusis kept mentioning his alter ego/personality, which sounds more like dissociative identity disorder. They are two very different disorders!).

Overall, the historical chapters told through Anahita's voice felt real and compelling, but the story was let down by the modern-day counterpart. Given that I picked this up since it's a similar style of storytelling to Kate Morton's novels, I have to say: this book suffers for the comparison. 

3 shooting stars.

 

The Fault in Our Stars: A Rambling Review

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

I'm no longer practically the last person on Earth to have not read this book! This is one of those books that I think is objectively quite well-written, but I just didn't emotionally connect with, personally. (No, it did not make me cry.) Hazel was a likeable protagonist who felt human and distinctive, and since she is the narrator we get to know her the best; yet even so, I still didn't feel as close to her as I would have liked.

A lot of this book is composed of conversation and Hazel's musings, so not that much really happens plot-wise (except for a few key events). I knew going into it about the spoiler ending (has anyone managed to escape that spoiler by now?) so that was not a surprise.

I found some of the philosophical observations on life a tad lofty and pretentious at times (which at least the characters are aware of), but I did find a lot of them true to life, acknowledging human reactions that often get swept under the rug or covered up by our society. That was one of the things I liked best about this book, that it was quite blunt about how it cut through the "socially acceptable" layer of human responses to get at how people actually think and feel.

3.5 shooting stars.

The Midnight Queen: A Rambling Review (Adult)

The Midnight Queen by Sylvia Izzo Hunter

This book was enjoyable enough, but not amazing. I liked the Regency-plus-magic setting (as I pretty much always do!), but I would have appreciated more knowledge of how this alternate version of Britain came to be (and a little more political/geographical explanation would also have been good). The main characters of Gray and Sophie were cute together, but I didn't feel a whole lot of chemistry between them; their relationship was an it's-so-obvious-it's-staring-everyone-in-the-face-so-why-can't-you-see-it kind of romance. Basically, you could see it a mile away and know it was inevitably going to happen at some point. The plot consisted of a LOT of conversations, and in my opinion, not enough action/suspense. There was some intrigue, of course, but it wasn't really the sort the reader can try to figure out, because we weren't given enough information. Things do get more eventful right towards the end, but even then, I thought the climactic scenes were a little confusing and didn't provide the pay-off I wanted considering the less-than-eventful lead-up to them.

In terms of characterization, Gray and Sophie were both a little too good, in a way, for my taste. They are both intelligent, loyal, well-liked, and (generally) well-meaning individuals; perhaps it was just that they weren't given enough weaknesses to make them feel more authentic. The third-person tense may also have made it a little more difficult to really get inside their heads and understand them as people.

I also think the villains could have been more villainous (they didn't seem that sinister, except perhaps by sheer number of them) and their characters expanded upon. I had difficulty keeping them straight, there were so many!

That said, it was a pleasant, comfortable, familiar kind of read. The language used evoked an older era, and yet was usually not particularly dense or archaic, making for fairly easy reading.

Cruel Beauty: A Rambling Review

Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge

I found this one super easy to just fall into and keep reading. I'm a sucker for Beauty and the Beast retellings and this one was no exception. The world-building was really interesting and different from previous BatB retellings I've read; I liked how it involved Greco-Roman mythology. I'm not usually big on traditional demons so this version of demons – no horns or tails involved, no smoldering sulphur pits or whatever – more or less worked for me. I do wish some of the plot points, particularly the climactic scene, were a little clearer, as I am still confused about what happened (spoilers, highlight to read: what was the Kindly Ones' riddle, and why was 'a handful of happiness' the answer? Was Ignifex or Shade the prince's anger?). Also, I distrusted Ignifex through a large part of the story because we really aren't given much insight into his thoughts or feelings; this compromised the romance aspect somewhat for me because I was wary of Ignifex and if we could believe him.

Nyx I found to be a somewhat melodramatic heroine, who was a little too keen on mental self-flagellation ('I'm such a bad person, there's such hate in my heart') without that much evidence to back up that she actually deserved all this criticism. I mean, she wasn't too fond of her family, but who can blame her? Her dad and aunt treated her terribly, and don't get me started on her sister... It also irritated me that Nyx kept changing her mind about things based on how she was feeling in a given moment (this is a common pet peeve of mine for YA novels, and while I can understand it to some extent given the premise, it became repetitive as the novel wore on).

Nevertheless, I enjoyed the fairytale feel to the narrative, and the descriptions of setting (so many different rooms in that castle!) added to the magical flavour. I also liked all the allusions to the original fairytale, which worked while still having the story be entirely its own.

Also, the plot point that happens towards the end that changes everything (being super vague here so as not to spoil, here are more specifics, highlight to read: when the prince opens the box and time unravels all the way back to before the original bargain was made) was quite bold, and made the ending a little less traditional.

The Wrap-Up List: A Rambling Review

The Wrap-Up List by Steven Arntson

This was an odd, quirky little story. It has a fantastical premise (creatures called "Deaths" are responsible for 'departing' certain individuals), and is set sometime in the future (no year is given, but the US is on the brink of what sounds like another world war) and yet it is centered very much on protagonist Gabriela's teenage concerns and daily life. There really isn't much world-building going on, but given this book seems to be more of a contemporary novel with a fantastical premise, I don't know that it really needs a ton of world-building.

Despite the fact that Gabriela's wrap-up list (what she wants to have happen before she departs) is centered on first kisses, romance really doesn't play that large a role in the story. Her "love interest," if you can call him that, is a sad specimen and I honestly don't know why she wanted him as her first kiss. He seemed like kind of a jerk, to be honest. Gabriela's taste in guys aside, however, she was a likeable enough protagonist, although her voice sounded a little younger than her specified age -- more like fourteen rather than sixteen. I enjoyed seeing her Mexican heritage highlighted in a natural, organic sort of way.

My favourite character without a doubt was the Death Hercule. He had attitude. I wish we could have seen even more of him. Just generally, I think some of the side characters could have been fleshed-out more; I would have liked to have seen more of her relationships with friends and family. It felt a little like the basics had been sketched out, but not completely filled in.

Plot-wise, there weren't many "big events" before the climactic scene, and then the ending itself was fairly predictable (highlight for spoilers: for one thing, I totally guessed that the "wait for Gabriela" hint could refer to after Sylvester's departure).

 

2017 Rock My TBR Reading Challenge

Okay, so last year the #RockMyTBR challenge was the ONLY one that I actually completed! Over-achieved at, actually, since I ended up reading 16 books off my shelves instead of just 12. *pats herself on the back* I am actually super pleased about this.

However... in the meantime, I'm afraid that some more books have joined my shelves. (Shocking, isn't it?) So, I am going to join in with the 2017 #RockMyTBR challenge! It is once again hosted by Sarah K from The YA Book Traveler.

The challenge: read a book a month that has already been published. I'm just going to count books that are already physically on my shelves (or e-books I have).   

You can use the hashtag #RockMyTBR to tweet about the challenge, and updating monthly about your progress on Twitter/your blog/a vlog/etc. is encouraged.

Sarah suggests making a list of books you hope to read for the challenge, to see if anyone else wants to buddy-read them with you, so here goes:

- The Fault in Our Stars by John Green (If there is ANYONE left on this planet who still has not read this book, and wants to, let me know so that a) I don't feel so alone and b) we might work out a buddy-read thing.)

- Where I Want to Be by Adele Griffin

- Split by Swati Avasthi

- Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys


- Madame Tussaud by Michelle Moran

- In the Shadow of Blackbirds by Cat Winters

- The Sugar Queen by Sarah Addison Allen

- More Than This by Patrick Ness

- This Is Not A Test by Courtney Summers

- Shadows on the Moon by Zoe Marriott

- A Face Like Glass by Frances Hardinge

- Outpost by Ann Aguirre

- Ink and Bone by Rachel Caine

If you're doing the challenge and any of these are also on your list, let me know!!

If you'd like to join in the fun, you can read all the details and link up your blog post here on Sarah's blog.