Number of books read: 6 Genres read: Fantasy, YA Romance Book #1: A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness Genre: Fantasy Rating (1-5): 2 Characters: 2 Plot: 2 I'm currently finishing up this trilogy by Deborah Harkness, and figured I might as well get started on the review for the first book in the set. However, if I'm being honest, I really don't want to. I just don't have any great things to say about A Discovery of Witches. The reason I picked up this book at Barnes & Noble, is because I saw it was becoming a TV show. The trailer seemed interesting to me, as well as the synopsis on the back of the book. And now the saying "don't judge a book by it's cover" comes into play, because I WAS FOOLED. This book is 600 pages, a little shy of that, but I'm rounding up. There was absolutely no reason for this book to be that long. Majority of the content in the book was "filler" content in my opinion, seeing as a lot of it had NOTHING to do with the story. I understand that the little details provide insight to the characters, but there is no need to bring up these details over and over again, or to dedicate MULTIPLE chapters to them. At first, Diana seems like an independent woman, who is quite capable of taking care of herself. But once Matthew came into the picture, she went from being capable of standing up for herself, to a damsel in distress who could only be saved by him. She's also an accomplished scholar and seems to have her life very well put together, so I was confused when that transitioned to her lacking any sort of common sense. There were times in the book where I genuinely thought she just wanted to die because of how dumb she was acting. And all of this change happened to a character I was really liking, because a macho man showed up and needed to assert his dominance and control over her life. This brings me to the main reason I disliked this book, because it romanticized a manipulative man, and once again relying on the male character was the only way she was going to survive. It's just a boring narrative and too predictable. Would've been way more entertaining if Diana was the one bossing around Matthew. In all honesty, I prefer The Twilight Saga over these books. To read more about A Discovery of Witches and the rest of the trilogy, head on over to Goodreads. I wouldn't recommend this book or series at all, but if you feel like it interests you, I'm not going to hold you back. Here's to hoping the TV show is better! Book #2-6: The Selection Series by Kiera Cass Genre: YA (Young Adult) Romance/Dystopian Rating (1-5): 5 Characters: 5 Plot: 5 I just love these books. Love them, love them, love them! This is my third time reading this series, and I did that kind of as a pick me up after the other books I read the past two months. After I read a book or series, I always ask myself, "Was there anything missing? Was there anything that could've been better?" With this series, my answer is always, "Yeah, more books please!" And this is why the whole series is getting a 5 star rating from me. The books take you on an emotional roller coaster ride. I laughed out loud, I got angry, and I cried tears of sadness as well as joy. Those are the best books in my opinion, and take a lot of skill to write, so props to Kiera Cass for being an expert in this area. I'm trying to find the best way to describe the overall premise of the book, so here it goes. The Selection Series is based in a dystopian America, where there are castes 1-8. The only people who are in the top caste is the royal family, so they are Ones. People are divided into the remaining castes based on their jobs, and the higher your caste, the better off you are. Families who are Fives or below, really struggle to make ends meet and feed their children, and this is made known since the protagonist, America, is a five. The reason it's called The Selection Series, is because of the selection that takes place. When the royal family has a crown prince "come of age", a girl is selected from each region to compete for his hand in marriage. It isn't like the Hunger Games where you aren't given a choice, rather girls apply and then pray and dream of being selected. Everyone besides America that is, seeing as it's the last thing she wants to do, but applies anyways to appease her mother. America is shocked when she is selected, and once she arrives to the palace, is determined to avoid any sort of situation in which feelings between her and Maxon, the prince, develop. But it's not as easy as she would think to resist the handsome prince's charm. These books are like The Bachelor in book form, but way better. For some of you, I'm sure that's very easy to imagine haha. But after reading the series 3 times, I can vouch for how great they are. I tend to fly through them because they are a lower reading level, and I'm sure that kids in middle school would be able to get through them without any issues. To read more about The Selection Series, head on over to Goodreads. I highly recommend this series, so if you decide to read them, let me know what you think! Happy Reading!
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AuthorHi, I'm Genny! You can always find me with a book in my hand. Dystopian, Fantasy, and Historical Fiction are among my favorite genres. I hope you enjoy the reviews I provide and can help you pick out your next book! Archives
October 2020
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