wingedcreature's reviews
1558 reviews

For a brief account of the Vikings, this was a tedious book to read, and the only memorable things from the book were the maps, pictures, and the timeline of rulers. Not a book I'd recommend to anyone.

I couldn't get into the book. We don't really get a lot of information about the world the characters live in, and the characters aren't developed very well. I thought Sydelle was a little wishy-washy, and seemed a little too perfect. As for Wayland, he was too cryptic, and seemed really sketchy.

The main plot was to get to the capitol to give the information about the war, but that tended to be dropped for side quests. There were a lot of things that popped up that were really random. The book was also inconsistent in terms of plotting and characterization, and things didn't make a lot of sense.

I think the best way to describe the book is disjointed. It was as if Bracken couldn't think of any interesting details to add in about the people and the world she created, and she jumps around a lot. It felt empty, like I was missing something. It felt like it was pieced together and had a lot of telling but not a lot of showing.

I give it a 1 out of 5. There was nothing memorable about this book, and Bracken's world-building needs a lot of work. It felt like I was reading the first draft.

I went through it pretty fast, and it was really hard for me to put it down. It was hard watching Caitlin struggle with her feelings of anger and guilt, and being the one left behind. The only thing that Ingrid leaves Caitlin is one of her journals, full of drawings, letters and various journal entries that Caitlin reads over the course of the book.

Even though Ingrid is dead, you really felt her presence through her journal and through Caitlin's memories, as well as the photographs that Caitlin take, and the photographs that Ingrid leaves behind.

It's definitely a story of moving on, and that it's okay to move on. I thought LaCour did a great job of showing Caitlin's feelings, and what she was going through. I've never lost anyone to suicide, but I was a mess after my grandpa died. I can't imagine losing someone to suicide, but it can't be easy. LaCour did an amazing job showing the different emotions someone can feel after losing someone important.

I don't usually comment on book covers, but I absolutely loved this one! It has a teen girl on it, with one of the journal entries in the background, with a drawing on the upper left corner.

There was something about the book that reminded me of Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson. I don't know if it was the overall tone of the book, or the characters from both books, or what, but almost the whole book, I was reminded of Speak. If you liked that book, or any other book by Laurie Halse Anderson, you'll like this one.

If I could give it a 3.5 of 5, I would. I liked it, but I didn't "really like it." It was simple, and somewhat fragmented, but overall, I liked it a lot, and found both Ingrid and Caitlin very relateable.

I didn't like it. I felt like it was lacking details, and while the Civil War fascinates me, I wasn't fascinated with this book. Just when I started to get interested in the book, it was over. Honestly, it should have been longer, especially since there are so many directions Peck could have gone in for the novel.

There wasn't anything really interesting, but some of the traditions that Delphine (one of the strangers from New Orleans) talks about at the end was the most fascinating. I was bored and there wasn't anything to really hold my interest. The length is probably the only reason why I kept reading.

The first chapter and the last chapter...I don't get why they're even included. I felt like they were just tacked on to wordpad- and not only that, but it was a terrible attempt at setting up the story and then telling us what happened to the characters.

I just couldn't care about the characters, but Delphine and Calinda were somewhat interesting. Maybe the story would have been better if they were the narrators.

While it's not completely light and fluffy, which I needed after reading Hate List, it's just light and fluffy enough. I really liked it. I loved the structure of it- her daily life after leaving Pinewood and letters to friend Julia. It worked really well for the book, and everything unfolds at a really nice pace.

I really like how she goes through the different aspects of the title. She doesn't want to believe anything bad about Julia, then she experiences hatred towards Julia for leaving her (amongst other things) and then comes to peace with herself and with Julia's death.

I found Amy very relatable, and her experiences were easy to relate too as well. Something I found interesting was the fact that she was an accident- her parents never meant to have her. It seemed like they tended to ignore her and were more interested in their relationship than raising a child...until the car accident that killed her best friend. As Amy put it, it was her parents with a child tacked on. It definitely explains some of the issues Amy had and tried to work on throughout the book.

I thought it was pretty realistic, and it was nice to see a character who struggled with issues come from a relatively "normal" home, with parents still together and in love. There were some issues with her parents, like I said, but I could see how Amy could have gotten from Point A to Point B.

I give it a 3 out of 5. It was enjoyable, and I liked it, but the fact that I read it right after Hate List may be coloring my judgement a little.

I liked it, and found the idea that love is a disease that has been (mostly) eradicated very interesting. It seemed like everyone feared love, but I myself didn't feel very scared of love at all.

I loved that the chapters were headed by nursery rhymes, playground chants, schoolbooks, government pamhplets and The Book Of SHHH, amongst other things.

One thing I'm curious about, and something that wasn't fully explained, was why love is considered a disease, and how they cure it. It's surgery- I think brain surgery- but other than that, we don't know the specifics. Perhaps it will be revealed in one of the other books in the series? It's mentioned what the symptoms of deliria are, but nothing about why it's considered bad...and almost contagious.

It gets a 3 out of 5. It's very imaginative and clever, and Oliver does have a way with words. But there was something missing from it. Still, I'm intrigued enough to read the next one.

For the last month or so, I've been reading and cooking from Cook 1.0 by Heidi Swanson. I've made about 4 recipes and I wish I had more time to cook a couple other things that look really good. But since I've had for 6 weeks, I think it's time to return it to the library.

I really like Heidi's blog, 101 cookbooks. So when I saw that she had a few cookbooks, I knew I had to check them out from the library.

I can honestly say that I LOVE how her cookbook is set up and organized. It's divided into different sections: chapter like breakfast, lunch, dinner and sides. Each chapter is further divided into sections, which is cool. It's thought out very well, and it's very easy to find recipes. And the recipes themselves? Everything is in table-format. There are no long lists of ingredients or paragraphs for the recipes. A quick glance, and you know where you should be and what you need to do next. It's very intuitive and it's such a good vegetarian cookbook. As much as I like tofu, it's nice to see a cookbook that doesn't rely a lot on tofu.

The recipes are simple, with a lot of fresh ingredients. I love that they don't seem to take long to make- no more than 30 minutes for the ones I've made, and a lot of the recipes seem to be around the 30 minute mark.

I also like the different variations that she has. There are some basic recipes, and the variations of stir-fries, vinaigrettes, and flavored butters (amongst others) build on those basic recipes.

I give it a 5 out of 5. It's well-thought out, with good recipes.

I love the whole idea of someone being reincarnated over and over for thousands of years to protect all humankind from Fallen Angels. It's a classic good vs. evil story, with Ellie turning out to be Gabriel, but in human-form.

The characters fell flat for me, though, and were pretty cliché and stereotypical. I found Will to be the most interesting, and I wanted to know more about him and his past. Ellie, on the other hand, was superficial and, at times, really irritating.

It was an enjoyable book, and one that was a pretty fast read. It was fun, and the fight scenes made it a lot more interesting. The forbidden romance was pretty obvious from the moment that Will and Ellie met, and I have the distinct feeling that we'll be seeing more of this series. I LOVED the mythology of the book, and was glad that it actually made sense.

As far as Ellie getting her "powers," it was pretty standard- she gets introduced to them on her 17th birthday. What wasn't standard, though, was the fact that she grows into her powers. It was pretty gradual, and even at the end of the book, she didn't have a full grasp on her powers.

I also want to know what's going on with her dad. You learn that he was a pretty good dad, and then one day...he randomly turned into a jerk, and Ellie and her mom don't know why. I was left with the feeling that this could be really important, but I suppose we'll have to wait until the next book to find out what's going on there.

It gets a 3 out of 5. It was enjoyable, but there wasn't a lot that stood out to me.