I made the illustration above in Procreate. Practice, practice, practice.
In July I thought a lot about how subjective book reviews are. What resonates with one reader leaves another cold. In light of this, I’m attempting to restructure how I write my own book reviews. It won’t be scripted but it will be an improvement. First, I’ll introduce who I think the book is for and why. After that I’ll share my take on why it did or didn’t work for me. In this way you can make your own decisions.
Part of what got me thinking about this is a pattern I’ve noticed among authors on Goodreads. Most won’t leave star ratings at all, or the’ll only review books they loved, and only ever at five stars. Occasionally they’ll review something mixed, but they’re crafty about the wording. See Maggie Stiefvater’s review of The House in the Cerulean Sea:
I believe it’s because their standing in the author community depends on not burning bridges with people who could quietly return the favor, which makes a lot of sense. I think this review does a good job of being both honest and useful. In light of this I will attempt to share more tactfully (just as opening and honestly) but in the more useful “who is this for” format that I detail above.
On an entirely separate note, I didn’t finish a single book in June and that’s all because… dun, dun, dun… I traveled. Travel and tourism, though illuminating are the enemies of writing, which by its nature is a very solitary affair.
Still, the travel was worth it. I spent almost two weeks in Saint Vincent on an underwater photo shoot for a client, which meant the end of each day was tied up in reviewing and editing photos, not reading. I did write every night about the day’s goings-on and the dive sites, if only to remember them or to later be able to write about them for my blog/other online sites. And okay, I lie slightly there was some fanfiction, and I made progress on The Last Unicorn and The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea, but finished? Nada.
To tide you over, here’s a photo of a goby from my trip. Isn’t it adorable?! It’s no bigger than my fingernail. No, I’m not joking. For macro shots I use a 100mm lens underwater which is why pictures like this are possible. This pic is massively compressed so it isn’t as detailed as it looks on my screen but you can still see it well enough.
The worst part of travel (which I love, to be clear) is that it knocks me out of the fiction habit entirely. I’m nearing 70k words on the novel and need to get back to it. August has to be THE writing month as September will be spent almost entirely outside the US.
Remarkably Bright Creatures
Author: Shelby Van Pelt
You’ll like this if. No, sorry, you’ll like this. And if you don’t, well I feel sorry for you. No judgement but… judgement!
5/5. This book has so much heart and is so elegantly and simply written that I couldn’t help but consume it over the course of two flights. Centering roughly about 3 characters—a 70 year old lady with a somewhat tragic past, a 30 year old man trying to find meaning and long lost parents; and a giant Pacific octopus coming near the end of his lifespan in an aquarium in Washington State. Odds are even if you’re not a reader you’re familiar with this book. It’s now a movie on Netflix. I didn’t dare watch it until I’d read the book (99% of the time movies don’t do the books justice). For a debut novel this is exceptional. Poignant, empathetic, well-written. Might be the best book I’ve read this year. Though the book should technically feel sad, it doesn’t. It feels hopeful. Okay, so I ditched the “this book is for” structure on this, mostly because I felt so strongly about it being a 5/5. I don’t care who you are, read it and love it and if you don’t, well you’ve got a heart as hard as concrete.
Half His Age
Author: Jennette McCurdy
If you’re the type of reader who wants immediately to be immersed in someone else’s life and head by page two, this book is a must read. Fair warning about whose head though: a sex-obsessed (read: love addicted) high-school senior who talks herself Lolita-style into a relationship with her forty-year-old English teacher, dragging with her a difficult upbringing and a matched set of psychological hang-ups that disturbingly hold a mirror up to what I suspect is a tactic many women use for sitting with feelings of low self-worth, anxiety, and overwhelm.
Still, McCurdy’s narrator is so vivid I read the whole thing in a night, empathizing the entire time, even while wanting to sit the protagonist down and deliver a lecture she would have nodded along to and then done nothing about. Beneath the troubling relationships, I think the book is about feeling lost, about the ways we self-soothe (especially as women), self-justify, and ultimately, hopefully “find ourselves.” This is true for the protagonist, her mother, and the English teacher, though in terms of endings, the protagonist is the only one that I see experiencing real growth.
I’d read McCurdy’s next book without hesitation as she writes with a strong voice, a sense of humor, and actual style.
The House in the Cerulean Sea
Author: T. J. Klune
I think this book is for readers who want to be somewhere, not get somewhere. It’s got the same mouth-feel as the popular new genre of “cozy” fantasy books (most often in tea shops) rather than the tense mystery novel the blurb on the back would have you believe it is.
There is, technically, a 1984-esque edge—what is the shadowy government agency our protagonist works for actually up to?—but it happily takes a back seat to where the author clearly wanted to spend his time: building a world where every character is loved and accepted, quirks and all. The book feels a bit like an allegory (intentional if never preachy and a bit soft around the middle) for how the world treats anyone it labels dangerous or strange—in this case, queer kids, othered communities, anyone registered and monitored for existing, and almost certainly treats with the forcible rehoming of indigenous children from their homes back in the 60s, also known as the Sixties Scoop.
The trouble, for me, is that the message lands early and then keeps getting delivered in much the same fashion as though I hadn’t already got it. Impatient wench that I am, by the halfway mark I’d started hankering for a thunderstorm and for the tension the book seemed to promise at the start. If you’re as ill-suited to sitting mentally still as I clearly am, this book might not be up your alley. However, if you’re someone who hankers for something slower paced, a bit more gentle and reassuring, yet that still has story and intrigue, it’s a good fit.
Quicksilver
Author: Callie Hart
Quicksilver is for readers who want a fantasy world they can step straight into—no glossary, no homework, in media res baby—oh, and who have the stamina for 624 pages. Errrr… It is also, very specifically, for anyone who finished Order of the Phoenix and thought, I wish Harry could stay this angry for the whole book. Good news: in this one, the protagonist can. Or perhaps that’s bad news? I’ll let you be the judge.
This book was on none of my lists before I tripped across it in my Libby app. I’d never heard of it, or of Callie Hart, which turns out to be faintly embarrassing given how prolific she apparently is. I started it as an audiobook and bailed on that format about 15% in. I can’t listen to fiction; nonfiction, fine, but with fiction my attention wanders off within a paragraph. Then I saw the paperback in Target and was startled by how fat it was, which brings me to perhaps my main gripe. Hart writes long.
Still, credit where it’s due. the opening act is genuinely gripping, the world is easy to enter without a glossary, and if enemies-to-lovers friction is your fuel, there is enough here to run a small city. Plus, there’s a tough as boots female protagonist. What I loved less was the crass eroticism. I simply don’t know another way to describe it. I’m no stranger to erotic literature (thank you fanfiction), but this was on a level that I didn’t find very appealing. Or perhaps it had to do with the main wanting a man who was an absolute arse to her. Not a huge fan of that IMO.
In my opinion, this book could have been chopped in half and I’m not sure I’d have missed a thing. Too often we circled the same ground, the same fights, the same simmering resentment between Saeris and her love interest. And I, an impatient reader with a strict annual budget for the word “fuck,” which this book spent by chapter six, ran out of goodwill somewhere in the circling. The tough-gal edge I’d loved in Saeris hardened into something I struggled to like, and eventually I realized I was annoyed by nearly everyone on the page.
Shelved, for now, somewhere past the halfway mark. Perhaps one day I’ll go back. At the moment there’s simply too much else to read.
Half City (Harker Academy #1)
Author: Kate Golden
If you enjoyed K Pop Demon Hunters as much as I did you’ll be longing for something like this, which frankly hit all the aches—strong female friendships, a slow burn, and some good old demon slaying. Pacey and fun, a little racy at time (hey slightly forbidden love-hate always got me sold), and a strong female protagonist. When I realized book two only comes out in October my heart sank, especially as the ending feels more like the end of a climax rather than the full book, leaving on in media res.
The good news? The author has another trilogy out, the first of which is A Dawn of Onyx (plus it’s complete). There’s also a standalone novel that looks good too, this one a romance centered around music so perhaps something else to fill that K Pop Demon Hunters need too? It’s called If Not for My Baby.
Though the book begins with our protagonist Viv discovering and enrolling in Harker Academy (a demon hunter school essentially), the book doesn’t really feel like a school story, which isn’t a bad thing as Aster, the world, the book really focuses on is very interesting, especially given the Chasm runs the length of the city, the divide that opened the world to demons all those years back.
Perhaps I’ve been a little biased on my review here but I can’t help it, it’s another great read. Yes for book two, which alas only publishes in October.
The Salvage
Author: Anbara Salam
Kudos to the cover designer as this book really stood out in Barnes and Noble and I was drawn in by the back of book blurb. Scotland, scuba diving and archeology? Sold.
I plowed through the first 20% and then stalled when the action slowed and when the protagonist got a little mopey.
In truth, if you’re looking for something fast-paced, this might not be for you. But, if you have a bit more patience, you won’t regret it. The author’s ability to conjure the feel of a remote 1960s Scottish island, nevermind a killer gothic atmosphere might even be as good as Edgar Allan Poe.
All in all, I’m impressed by what Anbara Salam did. I’ll be reading her debut novel next, not the least because it takes place in Vanuatu which I visited last year and which holds a somewhat special place in my heart courtesy of the excellent diving.
The Island of Missing Trees
Author: Elif Shafak
I came across this author when after reading Remarkably Bright Creatures I became curious about non-human narrators. This one came up on Goodreads and after reading it was perfect for immigrants/expats, I was intrigued. After reading a single page I was sold.
This book is for you if you like good writing packed with novel descriptions and fresh metaphors. It’s also very interesting from a history POV as you’ll delve into the conflicts that today are still ongoing in Cyprus. And, if you’re an immigrant…wow does this one pack a punch. I saw myself and my family in it. Honestly, I shed a few tears at the end. It’s a beautiful but at times hard read. Still, so impressed with the writing and with the insight Shafak has into immigrant inner lives.
Where are all my fantasy books I hear you asking?! I needed variety my darlings. I need to consume different writing styles to be sure my brain is not stagnating and as we all know, variety is to life as sprinkles are to vanilla cupcakes.
If Not for My Baby
Author: Kate Golden
I meant to hold off on reading this book but Island of Missing Trees had a tough ending and I needed something lighter pronto.
In short, this book is for you if you’re looking for an easy-going romance without too much will-they-won’t-they and with a happy ending (yes, literally and figuratively).
Personally, I’d have loved a bit more conflict but I can’t complain too much. I loved joining the protagonist as she experienced going on tour and I loved that both the protagonist and her love interest were such independent thinkers.
And that’s a wrap! For August I’ll be going back to a few books I’ve had on my list for a bit. That and writing.
