Book Review: Poor Unfortunate Soul by Serena Valentino

Pages: 208
Publisher: Disney
Released: July 26, 2016
Received: Finished copy from publisher
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Goodreads

This is a really tiny book with a whole lot of plot packed into it. There's really four stories here: Ursula's past, Ursula's present (the movie), the strange sisters, and the princess. This was good since all the stories were mostly interesting, but also bad because all the stories suffered from "not enough."

Ursula's past was acceptable. I'll buy what the author is selling here, even if it did seem a little far fetched. But, fairy tale, so, yeah, I can accept far fetched in this context.

Ursula's present was entirely underwhelming. Mostly it's just word for word taken from the movie, it's barely there, and when it does go off script it's not very good. Triton is made into a super evil man whose complete cruelty led entirely to Ursula's villainous ways. Even taking into account that this is from Ursula's perspective, this still didn't feel right. This didn't ring true to any of the characters and it lacked the psychological depth and character development needed in a reverse perspective story.

But those other two storylines? To me, those made the book worth reading. There were a lot of references to the first two books in the series, but I didn't get them because 1) I read the first book years and years ago so I don't remember much of anything, and 2) I never read the second book. It was a little annoying not knowing exactly what was being referred to, but it didn't affect my ability to follow the story.

Even still, these side characters were more interesting and I cared more about them than I did about Ursula. The three sisters were annoying, but I didn't get the sense you were supposed to think they weren't annoying. The cat, the princess, the prince, and the nanny were all likable and I wish the book spent more time on them.

Also, there's a big cliffhanger at the end. 

Bottom line

The books in this series seem to be pretty consistent. They're kind of all over the place and written poorly, but despite that, they're also engaging and, overall, I enjoy them. I would definitely check these books out of the library and will continue to follow the series.

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Series Review: Grave Witch by Kalayna Price

#1 in the Alex Craft series
Pages: 325
Released: September 21, 2010
Publisher: ROC
Received: Library
Rating: 4 out of 5stars
Goodreads

At this point I've read the first three books in the series and they've all blended together in my memory so this is really more of a review for the series thus far than for any one book in that series.

Paranormal romance/urban fantasy books and me have a weird relationship. In general, I really don't like them. There's this gritty feel to them that just bothers me and I usually feel dragged down by the desperate- but-tough main character and her aloof, mixed-signals love interest.

But every once in a while, I'm in the mood for a book in this genre. I haven't been able to pin point yet what makes some of these books work for me when most of them don't at all, but oh boy, when they work for me, they work for me. I flew through this series and only stopped because the fourth book hadn't been published yet.

So, what do you get with the Alex Craft series? A desperate-but-tough main character, but there's something about her that's endearing. She's tough, but she's not kick-butt-tough. She isn't the kind of badass lady who can take on the world with her giant shoulder chip. She's more subdued and fully aware of her limitations, which made me want to protect her rather than roll my eyes at her.

She also just seems nice. But that's the thing about a lot of the characters in this series: they're just nice (and I mean that in a good way). I like them, I'd hang out with them, and I care about what happens to them. They make me smile (especially Alex's ghost side-kick). This is the biggest thing the series has going for it for me.

But, the other thing that keeps me reading are the mysteries. Each book has a self-contained mystery (usually a murder) and an overarching series mystery, and all the mysteries were well-crafted. Clues were given out at just the right pace and each time I was invested in trying to figure out what was going on.

The magic system was also pretty engaging. I was just as interested in figuring out the world and magic rules and possibilities as I was in figuring out the murder mysteries. Alex knows a lot and sets the stage, so I felt pretty grounded in the world right away, but Alex is also discovering new things about her own magic and the greater magical world and I enjoyed sleuthing with her on this front, too.

The romance is probably the biggest point loss for me since we get the dreaded love triangle. I'm also not a fan of how either of the love interests treats Alex. The set up for why she can't be with them is so contrived and at three books in I'm getting pretty tired of it all. I'd like to see Alex forget about them both and just find herself a nice, stable man without baggage. That said, when things are working out between Alex and her romantic interests, the chemistry is definitely there and I'm convinced she should stay with them.

Bottom line

When I'm looking for something light, engaging, fun, and nice this is a good go-to series.

Looking for something similar? 

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Click on the cover to go to my review

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Book Review: Henry VIII and His Six Wives by Maureen Peters

Pages: 183
Released: 1972, re-released May 16, 2016
Publisher: Endeavour Press
Received: ARC from publisher, via NetGalley
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Goodreads

I think Maureen Peters is going to be a Jean Plaidy kind of author for me: a historical fiction choice that never impresses but always delivers a consistently ok book.

By this point, I'm well familiar with Henry VIII and his six wives, so this version didn't off anything new, which is unsurprising considering it's under 200 pages and spans all six wives.

I wish Maureen Peters had spent more time on each event instead of speeding through them and glossing over major events and blocks of time. When she took a moment to pause, I really enjoyed her writing and her characters came to life. But these pauses were always short lived and gave the book a very unfinished feeling, like she intended to write a much longer novel but ended up publishing a draft outline version instead.

There were a few historical inaccuracies, which were bad enough to elicit eye-rolls but not frequent enough to get me to DNF. I wouldn't worry about them too much since even most Tudor dilettantes will spot them easily and novices would be better served with a different book to introduce them to the Tudors anyway. This one jumps around too much to be all that great for someone who can't fill in the gaps themselves.

I have another Maureen Peters book on my TBR and this one was strong enough, despite its flaws, that I'm looking forward to reading more of her books.


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Book Review: A Knight in Shining Armor by Jude Deveraux

Pages: 400
Released: 1989
Publisher: Atria
Received: Library
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars, Special Shelf
Goodreads

I tend to shy away from a lot of adult romance novels because I like my stories with a lot of plot and characterization and a touch of romance. I definitely want that romance there, but I don't want the point of the story to be the romance with a sex scene every third page. I just don't find that super engaging.

So I was kind of hesitant to pick up A Knight in Shining Armor because, well, 1) that title, and 2) everything screams ROMANCE NOVEL (though, albeit, a tamer romance novel...and it is, much tamer). But I kept hearing about how this one was different and worth it and it did have that whole time travel historical thing and so I decided to bite the bullet and just try it already.

And now I have a new Special Shelf book, so that just goes to show that I shouldn't be such a weenie about trying books (I mean, what's the worst thing that will happen? I'll DNF it? Oh the horror!).

Anyway, outside of just saying "If you like the books I like, then give this one a try!" here are a few thoughts on why I liked this book so much:

Dougless. Ok, let's be real, I hate this name. I almost didn't read the book because I hate the main character's name so much. It's the type of name that just pulls me out of the story and I have to actively work at focusing on the plot and not the little voice in my head piping up with "Dougless? SERIOUSLY??" every time I read that name. So, if you're doing the same thing, trust me, I get it. But, by the third chapter I was so hooked that I barely noticed it anymore.

The first chapter. It's AWFUL. I had serious doubts that this book and I were going to be able to get along and I was putting a lot of thought into DNF-ing. I even did put the book down for a month or so because the first chapter was so bad. The thing is though, the first chapter is supposed to be bad. You're supposed to hate it. You're supposed to loathe the characters and what they're doing and how Dougless is responding to it all. Push through it. Trust me.

And a note on how Dougless responds, look, she goes through huge character growth throughout the story. She starts off with awful self-esteem and a warped idea of what she "should" be like. This leads to some cringe-worthy moments because this is a journey for Dougless, and that journey has a lot of bumps in the road. Dougless does things that I wanted to smack her upside the head over. She thinks things that I just want to shake my head and say "Oh, honey" because she's just so, so wrong. But, because Dougless is awesome and relatable and BFF sleepover party worthy, I totally get where she's coming from and I feel for her and root for her. 

The mystery. Ok, the blurb doesn't really hint at this at all beyond a vague "grand adventure that lay before them" and, frankly, given the rest of the blurb I mostly expected this to be the heaving bosoms kind of "grand adventure." I wasn't expecting an engaging murder mystery with sleuthing for clues in both time periods and a bunch of time-travel humorous hijinks. I was totally into the mystery and couldn't flip the pages fast enough.

Which is to say nothing of the other mysteries of will Dougless stay in the past? Will Nicholas stay in the present? Do they have a choice? How does the time travel work? All very engaging.

And, yeah, there is romance. And it's swoony. Nicholas is a worthy hero and a likable character in his own right. I won't say too much about him because, spoilers, but suffice it to say, I liked him.

Plus, they also eat a lot of good food, cruise around to neat historical travel spots, stay in romantic hotels, and go shopping. Because they're rich. Very, very rich. It felt like I was on a posh vacation, and that was just plain fun.

I thought I was going to write a tiny review because I read this book months ago at this point and I didn't think I had much to say by now except LOVE! READ IT! YAY! And all that is very true, but apparently I did have more to say. And could continue talk about A Knight in Shining Armor. But I'll stop here and leave it at this: If you like my other Special Shelf books, then pick this one up, too.

Oh, and I know this book is described as book 15 in a series,but  it can totally be read as a standalone. I haven't read any of the other books and I had no trouble whatsoever. I think this is the kind of "series" that follows a family, but each member gets their own unique, standalone story. 

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Book Review: Disney Villains

Pages: 129
Released: July 12, 2016
Publisher: Disney Editions
Received: Finished copy from publisher
Rating: a very generous 3 out of 5 stars
Goodreads

Oh, villains. What is it about villains, and Disney villains in particular, that is just so fascinating? I'm not sure the reason, but I can't deny that I do love all things Disney villain, and this book is no exception.

The book is arranged by category of villain, which automatically gets points and interest from me because I'm a categorizing kind of person and so I liked to see which categories Disney chose to create and then which categories they chose to sort their villains into. So, right off the bat I was hooked.

Peppered throughout the book were sub-categories, focusing on everything from villain sidekicks, villain pets, and villain cars. This was an unexpected and wholly delightful addition that added an extra layer of engagement. More points. 

Then they added pictures. Bright, big, bold pictures that further grabbed my attention in a very positive way. This is a coffee table book, so the pages are big, glossy, and thick. Points for visuals!

And yet, only three stars, so the points must come off somewhere, right? Sadly, it's because of the content. Each featured villain gets a blurb, and I was so hoping these blurbs would provide thoughtful commentary about the development, personality, and "type" of villain. And, to be fair, some did.

But most didn't.

Most came with very shallow, blandly written blurbs that offered nothing beyond a very, very surface-level, very minimal description of the villain. I could have written a more in-depth description! I could have provided more thoughtful commentary or personality analysis or description of the villain's unique importance in their story. Surely Disney, the keeper of the character secrets and origin stories and knowledge of all the "whys" behind the characters' creation and development would be able to provide more?

I was very disappointed. It felt like the blurbs were phoned in by a low-level intern who couldn't care less about Disney. There was no magic, no love, no care.

Bottom line

Ok, but I expect better from Disney.  

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DNF Explanation: Revel by Maurissa Guibord

Read to page 195 of 352
Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Released: February 12, 2013
Received: Library
Goodreads

I wasn't blown away by Maurissa Guibord's debut Warped, but I liked it well enough to give her sophomore novel Revel a try. At this point I think she just might not be the author for me, because while Revel definitely felt more polished, I didn't click with it enough to finish.

In the plus column were the unique mythology and paranormal creatures. The exact nature of the creatures and their history with the islanders is shrouded in mystery (at least, shrouded from main character Delia because the rest of the creepy islanders know all about it). Piecing together this mythology held my interest and is pretty much the only reason I kept reading (the plot is seriously slow).

At least, it held my interest until Delia started getting some answers and those answers left me...turned off. Getting the answers also turned the focus of the plot from unraveling a mystery to getting consumed by romance. I like my books with a touch of romance, but when the romance becomes the focus I start to yawn. Especially when it's insta-love. With a love triangle. And when the romance is more creepy and bland than swoony.

So, DNF. And, looking now and realizing this is a Delacorte book, I'm not really surprised. We don't usually get along.

Looking for another book like this? (But better)

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Click on the cover to go to my review/Goodreads

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Book Review: The Hidden Oracle by Rick Riordan

#1 in the Trials of Apollo series
Pages: 379
Released: May 3, 2016
Publisher: Disney Hyperion
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Goodreads

Meh. 

That's never a good first association word. But what can I say? It fits. 

Sometimes having a good formula and sticking with it works out. And, sometimes, it doesn't. For me, in the case of Rick Riordan, I think it's time to either find a new shtick or quit while he's, well, we're not even ahead at this point. Maybe just quit beating a dead horse?

My gripes with The Hidden Oracle are the same gripes I had with The Sword of Summer: too much over-writing, too much over-reliance on the formulas of the previous books' plots and characters, shallow side characters, and a plot that chugs along with gasps and wheezes instead of engaging action. It was hard enough getting through the first book (though I liked it more than The Sword of Summer) and I couldn't imagine slogging through an entire five book series. There just isn't enough substance. 

Going back to those side characters, in full disclosure I haven't read the Heroes of Olympus series. Maybe I should have? Maybe I would have cared about them? As it was, I could not care less about any of them. They were hollow nothing characters. They didn't even have enough substance for caricature status. They were just there, and so whatever perilous situations they found themselves in, it was a real chore to even try to muster up an iota of care. 

And did we really need to trot out Percy Jackson again? Even Percy seemed to roll his eyes at his stale cameo.

Oh, and oh my gosh, the villain? No, just...no. Surely we can do better than this?

But what about Apollo himself? Overall, I liked Apollo's voice and he is definitely (finally!) distinct from Percy Jackson. His humor was also so, so bad, but instead of grating like it did in The Sword of Summer,  coming from Apollo the awfulness of the humor just added to his character. I'm not sure if that was the intention, but it worked for me. 

I enjoyed Apollo's bravado and how he grappled with humanity and his past. This added depth and entertainment, though it would have hit even harder had I cared about the other characters. Anyway, I'm in the "pros" part of the review, so...

Fans of Riordan's other series will probably continue to find enjoyment in the plot of this new series. It follows the same pattern of sedate adventuring, and even if it hasn't been pulse-pounding since the original series, it's entertaining enough in a lighthearted way. I mean, I did stick with it and finish the book. 

Bottom line

I think it's time Rick Riordan and I parted ways. It was nice for a while there, but I'm bored now and in search of spark, which doesn't seem to be something I'm going to get from a Riordan book at this point. Apollo is what sets this book above his latest offerings and gave me a little hope, but ultimately the total package just isn't enough for me. 

But, readers still enjoying his books will gobble up The Trials of Apollo with enthusiasm. It's more of the same, and while for me that's yawn-inducing, for many others that will be a selling point. 

 
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