[Reviews]: July Reviews

Secret of the Sirens by Julia Golding
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I finished reading this a while ago, it was a pretty enjoyable read. It was about a girl named Connie who found out that she was a Universal Companion, someone who could bond with all mythical creatures out there (dragons, pegasi, regular animals etc...)

I felt no emotional connection to any of the characters. They weren't very well fleshed-out. Very 2-Dimensional. Col, in particular, annoyed the hell out of me.

The mythical creatures though, the author did a really good job at fleshing out their characters. It was almost as though I could feel what they felt; the way Julia Golding described things was very magical. Even a fleeting character, the Kraken, left a deep impression even though he was only featured in the last couple of pages.

All in all, an enjoyable read. Wouldn't mind reading the next book after this!







View all my reviews Keeper of Light and Dust by Natasha Mostert
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I finished reading this like a week ago, so my recollection of the plot might be off here or there.

Anyway, this was a story about Mia Lockheart, a tattoo artist and part time keeper-slash-healer for warriors. She was the descendant of long line of healers, whose main job was to ensure the safety of warriors when they go to battle.

Since this story was based in the modern times, there were hardly any war and Mia's charges were mostly boxers/martial artists.

The plot was a little bland, which was a waste of the author's talent because I could tell that she was very adept in writing. That was why I kept on reading even though the plot did not entice me as I thought it would.

The main villain was a modern-day vampire but his skills and background were hardly described. We only knew a little more about him near the end of the story.

Rather than a vampire or a fantasy novel, this was more of a martial arts novel with tattoos wedged up here and there, which I have to admit, did not interest me so much.

There were also fleeting mentions of Rosalia Lombardo, though she merely served as a muse for the villain.



View all my reviews James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

4/5 *

I love Roald Dahl's style of writing; the way he puts his sentences together, his eccentricity etc.

I love that how instead of simply giving James magic, Dahl gave him magic AND friends.

This was a really fun read, though slightly morbid. I had to read what happened to his aunts twice just to be sure :O







View all my reviews Dead Man's Island by Carolyn G. Hart
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Our story started with the main character, Henrietta O'Dwyer Collins, or Henrie O, helping an old lady from being scammed by a con-artist.

Then, she received a call from her old friend, and implied ex-lover, Chase Prescott. He asked for her help, someone was trying to kill him. Prescott was a multi-millionaire business magnate with a lot of enemies, and instead reporting everything to the authority like every other sane person would, he decided to gather all the people whom he suspected to want him dead on a private island.

Then, we were introduced to the potential suspects.

1. Burton Andrews - Prescott's secretary who was frequently mistreated by him.
2. Miranda Prescott - Prescott's young beautiful wife
3. Haskell Lee - Prescott's exceptionally handsome stepson
4. Roger Prescott - Prescott's son with his first wife
5. Valerie St. Vincent - Prescott's ex-sister-in-law; Haskell Lee's aunt. A Broadway actresss.
6. Lyle Stedman - Prescott's successor
7. Trevor Dunnaway - Prescott's lawyer

(view spoiler)[ From the start, I was torn between two possibilities. One was that the culprit was the families that Prescott displaced from the island when he bought it.

The second one was that Prescott orchestrated everything from the start, only his real target was his wife, Miranda. I was expecting some hefty insurance policy under her name. I assumed that everyone else on the island was innocent and that Prescott was the real culprit. But then, it was revealed that HE had insurance that could save his company. So, it turns out that he was orchestrating his own death, so that his company could get the insurance money needed to save it from a financial crisis.

Manipulative, cold, selfish. I felt bad for him when he died (was he even really dead?), but at the end of the book, I only felt resentment. The guy killed his own dog, for goodness sake! He put his loved ones on the chopping block just to save his one true love, his company. I felt so bad for his family members at the end of everything.

The main character did the right thing by raising Emily away from him.

(hide spoiler)]

Hatred for the culprit aside, this was an engaging read. I slept at 5 am just to finish reading this.







View all my reviews Fragile Heritage by Sara Hylton
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Fragile Heritage was a very engaging read that was set through the decades of the early 1900s.

(view spoiler)[
Our story starts with the main character, Ellen Adair finding out that her best friend’s (Kitty McGuire) drunkard of a father, Paddy McGuire had died. Then, after a round of scolding from her father, we came to the knowledge that her father was not very keen of her friendship with the McGuires. The father implied that the McGuires were poor and Irish and did not seem to be the right sort of crowd to ingratiate oneself with. We would later learn that there was another reason for his vehement dislike of the McGuires. Ellen’s father was the sexton of their little village and in his bid to help the village ‘harlot’, Phoebe Patterson to turn over a new leaf and to embrace the light of Christianity, he went around getting frisky with her, which was accidentally witnessed by Kitty McGuire’s father. Utter dislike of the McGuire’s poverty aside, he also didn’t want them to tell Ellen (and subsequently his wife) of his indiscretion.

Ellen’s mother worshipped her husband and would never go against him even though he physically and mentally abused their children over and over again. When Ellen realized that her father was starting to look at her in an unfatherly manner, she decided to run away from home. She followed Kitty to Liverpool to work at a boarding house for sailors. There, she worked under Mr and Mrs Doyle, cleaning the boarding house to earn money.

The men who lived there were surprisingly kind, though they did repeatedly warned her of someone called Black Jake, a rough vindictive man who was said to have penchant for girls like Ellen.

They weren’t wrong, and when Black tried to sexually assault Ellen, Kitty hit him in the head with a frying pan, costing them both their jobs (though it was mostly done because Mrs. Doyle wanted to protect them from Black’s impending rage were they to continue working there.)

In the end, they had to work at a factory. Ellen noticed that Kitty was getting more and more restless about their lives. Kitty wanted riches; emerald and ermines. When they became acquainted with Emmie Wallsingham, a girl who came from the same background as theirs but managed to turn her fate around, Kitty started getting close with Emmie.

She decided to follow Emmie’s line of work, and not wanting to leave Ellen stranded in Liverpool without a place to go to, she contacted Ellen’s estranged step-aunt (Aunt Liza), who then proceed to forcibly took Ellen to York. When her Aunt Liza, contacted Mr. Adair about Ellen, it was revealed that he didn’t want to take her back, angry that she had the cheek to run away in the first place.
Ellen, then, started working at Aunt Liza’s drapery. She slowly became acquainted with the folks in the village. There was a huge manor at the end of the village, Langstone Priory, that belonged to the rich and noble de Belleforts.

The old matriarch of the family (Lady de Bellefort) chanced upon Ellen and grew very interested in her. It was then revealed that Ellen’s looks were those of the quintessential de Belleforts girls (flaxen hair, blue eyes). In fact, she was almost the carbon copy of the de Bellefort’s spoiled young granddaughter, Lisanne.

When Aunt Liza traveled to her brother’s home in a place I don’t remember, Ellen was left to her own device for a few days. She decided to go back to Liverpool to look for Kitty. She had saved a bit of money and could now afford to buy better dresses and travel through the city comfortably. In a fancy tea dance, she chanced upon Kitty, who got kicked out of the tea dance by the head butler. Kitty was now unrecognizable. She was working the same job as Emmie Wallsingham, a prostitute.
They caught up for a moment, and Kitty told her that she still wanted her ermines and emerald and insists on getting it by hook or by crook. Then, they parted ways and Ellen went back to York.
Lady de Bellefort told Ellen that she was the daughter of her husband’s illegitimate daughter, which makes her, a de Bellefort in her own right.

After Aunt Liza died, she was taken in by the de Bellefort as Lisanne’s companions. It was then that she engaged in a passionate love affair with Lancelot de Bellefort, Lisanne’s cousin and potential husband. The de Belleforts had the custom of marrying their cousins to keep the money in the family. Lisanne had two other cousins, the beautiful but meek Geraldine, and the mean and cynical Gervase.

After playing matchmaking, the Lady de Bellefort decided to marry Lance off to Geraldine. The heartbroken Ellen demanded Lance to pick between her and the estate, and Lance picked the latter. Aware of the former courtship between Ellen and Lance, the sympathetic Lady decided to allow Ellen to travel with Lisanne and her mother, Delia to Paris.

Her journey as a socialite began. She fell in love with Paris, and despite a few scandals (murder!) and trouble here and there, courtesy of the spoilt brat called Lisanne, she enjoyed the city immensely.

Trouble brewed when the World War II started. They flee to Antibes (instead of England as Lady de Bellefort had dictated), to Aunt Julie’s (Delia’s friend) vacation house, unaware of the trouble that would follow. France was attacked by Germany. Delia took charge of all of them and went to great lengths to keep everyone safe.

A whole lot of trouble later (more murder and deaths), the war ended. Since Lancelot and Geraldine had gotten married, it was Lisanne’s turn, with her taciturn Cousin Gervase. They decided to board a cruise ship to London, and would then travel to Ireland where Gervase lived (and where the wedding would take place). Lisanne asked Ellen to be her bridesmaid. Ellen agreed.
Right before they reach England, the ship hit a minefield and sank. Lisanne and Delia died. When Ellen woke up, she was addressed to as Miss de Bellefort and it was then that she realized that they had mistook her for Lisanne. She found out that it was Kitty (she was also in the ship) who led them to believe so, because she wanted a better life for Ellen. Kitty was already a successful singer and she had already had the life she wanted in the past, ermines and emerald, and now, she only wanted the best for her friend.

Ellen didn’t want to do that, even though she knew that nothing would be waiting for her in the future, as Ellen Adair. After coaxing Ellen into playing along, they parted ways once again. This time, Kitty said that they would probably never meet again.

It was revealed that the old Lady de Bellefort had died.

Ellen went to Ireland as Lisanne and married the handsome but distant Gervase and bore him a son. Gervase hated the way he was forced into marrying her and therefore remained distant even though they already had a child together. Ellen lived luxuriously and glamorously, not unlike Delia in the past. She traveled a lot, and during one of her trips to London, she fell for a man who she would later learn to be Sir Mark. He was also in love with her and wanted her to divorce Gervase.
She started hounding Gervase for divorce, which he wouldn’t give. Then, they received news that Lance, who was holding the title Sir de Bellefort had died. Since he had no son, the title would go to Gervase. They traveled to York once again and started living in the estate. Nobody could tell that Ellen was masquerading as Lisanne, not even the old servants of the house. Geraldine was implied to have had noticed something. With Lance dead, Geraldine had to move out. She was strangely serene when Lance died, and she would later confide in Ellen/Lisanne that she knew Lance was in love with Ellen and that her death had broke his heart.

Unwilling to live the same life as Geraldine, Ellen tried to save her marriage. But when stubborn Gervase proved to be a challenge, she decided to end everything and admit that she had been lying to him. She told him everything, about her real identity and what happened to the real Lisanne.
Gervase realized he was in love with her and they made up. She would still be Lisanne in front of others, but in private, she would be Ellen to him.

(hide spoiler)]

This was a very riveting read to me, the kind that made me feel empty after I turned over the last page. I did not do the story justice with my half-baked description. The author wrote much better than I did. In case if you were interested in this novel but got turned off by my retelling, please do read the first ten pages before making your verdict.

I left out a lot of important points in my synopsis, what happened to which character etc. There were a lot more characters in this novel, each with their own distinct personalities and I got attached to them really fast.

My most favorite character in the story has got to be Delia de Bellefort. (view spoiler)[ She was described as flighty and glamorous by a lot of people. My stomach sank when she returned to Langstone Priory, expecting her to give Ellen hell for liking Lance (and dare I say, snatch her daughter’s man from right under her nose.) But she wasn’t that. She was distant in the beginning, but when they got to Paris and the whole Henrie mess happened and she hardly give anyone (other than her own daughter) a hard time over it, I knew I was going to like this woman. She was very misunderstood. When the Germans marched through France, she took care of everybody and drove them to a safe house and basically did everything she could to keep everyone safe. I expected her to treat Lisanne and Ellen differently, and though she did to a degree, I liked how fair and level-headed she was and how she did not refrain from chewing Lisanne off for her misgivings.
(hide spoiler)]

The author had a penchant for killing significant characters silently even when we were still attached to them. She did that a lot of times. (view spoiler)[ When Delia and Lisanne’s deaths were only mentioned in passing, I was disappointed because they did not receive the grand exits they deserved. Lisanne although spoilt and unlikeable and selfish and a lot more things, she wasn’t exactly bad. Just innocently self-centered in her own way. As for Aunt Julie and Delia, I was very interested to know what really happened to them. Was Aunt Julie really killed by the Nazis? (She was Half-Jewish and pretty much survived the war until the very end when she got taken away by the soldiers.) Was Delia really dead? Did they even find her body? What if she pulled a Rose? What about Kitty? What happened to her after she married that Arabian prince? This was more like Ellen’s adventures through life with special appearances from Kitty sprinkled here and there. Although they lived longer apart than together, Ellen and Kitty’s friendship was really special and deep. I’d hoped they’d meet each other again. (hide spoiler)]

The book was divided into three parts; the first part, (view spoiler)[ Ellen’s adventure in Liverpool with Kitty. The second part, Ellen’s life with Lisanne and the de Belleforts. The third part was her pretending to be Lisanne and marrying Gervase. (hide spoiler)] I liked all three parts equally, they were very different and poignant in their own ways.

I never thought I would enjoy this book as much as I did. I do believe I will start looking for other books that will make me invest my emotions like this one did.







View all my reviews The Company of Ghosts by Berlie Doherty
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The main character, Ellie, was kind of a spoiled brat. George, on the other hand, was a jerk. There were hardly any layers to their characters. Only Ellie had a little character development near the end.

[Spoiler]
I kind of wish there were more ghosts and more back stories behind everything.

[/spoiler]

There were a few spine-tingling moments inside the book, which I really love. The author is very gifted when it comes to description.






View all my reviews Hanna's Daughters by Marianne Fredriksson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This novel spans through three generations of women through three eras.

There was Hanna, the grandmother; Johanna, the mother; and Anna, the daughter.

This is the most profound book that I had read so far. It made me wonder if I would feel what the ladies felt when I reach their age.

Hanna's character is very believable, and very interesting, to say the least. You can see her in your old-school mother or your grandmother, especially if you are Asian. Johanna, the mellow one out of the three, is a smooth blend of Hanna's traditionality and Anna's independence. She is by far my most favorite character out of the lot. Brave and modern Anna is strong-willed and independant (and kind of paranoid).

I had a hard time putting this book down. It was very easy to connect to the characters and Hanna's story was especially interesting.

The only reason this only gets 4 stars is because of the emptiness it made me feel at the end of the book. Made me depressed lol.






View all my reviews The Selection by Kiera Cass
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This novel has a very interesting premise. I am a sucker for fairytale-ish plot, so I literally finished this in like three days.

This is totally my cup of tea, just the descriptions are a little too childish sometimes. Too much info. The author tried too hard (and too fast) to describe the characters, especially Maxon and Celeste, resulting in them not being very well-fleshed out. There are no layers to their personalities.

------Spoiler!!!------
Onto the main character, America; she spent 80% of the novel proclaiming love for Aspen, and then she suddenly wanted Maxon too? Like I said, too rushed.

I already bought the whole set though, so I'll be going through the second novel after this!




View all my reviews The Ugly Princess and the Wise Fool by Margaret Gray
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I love this book.

Even though this a children's book, the characters have more depths than many novels out there.

I just wish it was longer.






View all my reviews The Elite by Kiera Cass
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Maxon is such a jerk smh. I hate how everyone is in love with him, how they keep making excuses for him. I hate how he never stands up for himself and for America.

As for America, I never knew someone could be so indecisive lol. She is in love with whomever is in front of her at that moment.
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The One by Kiera Cass
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The very end of the Trilogy.

I love how everyone has their own character development by the end of the book except for the king. Celeste surprised me the most. I love the bond between the girls. I love how everyone has their own happy ending.

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Ranking in terms of enjoyment:
1. Fragile Heritage by Sara Hylton
2. Hanna's Daughters by Marianne Frederikson
3. Dead Man's Island by Carolyn G. Hart
4. Secret of the Siren by Julia Golding
5. James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
6. The Ugly Princess and the Wise Fool by Margaret Gray
7. The Company of Ghosts by Berlie Doherty
8. The Selection by Kiera Cass
9. The One by Kiera Cass
10. The Elite by Kiera Cass
11. The Keeper of Light and Dust by Natasha Mostert