Lia, Human of Utah, by Greg Ramsey |ARC Book Review

Hello friends! Welcome back to Adele Is Reading.

Today I have my ARC book review of Lia, Human of Utah, by Greg Ramsey.

A huge Thank You to Netgalley, for allowing me to read Lia, Human of Utah in exchange for an honest review.
This in no way has impacted my review. 

Trigger Warning: Murder, Fighting, Blood, Terrorist Attack mention, Loss of a Child mention, Grief.

In the year 2342, Lia wakes up to a nightmarish world where the remnants of mankind have mutated into ravaging monsters. Alone and hunted, she struggles to remember who she is and what happened to civilization.

She cannot run forever. But when she turns on her hunters, the mutation takes her over violently. Now she must fight to maintain her humanity and uncover the terrible truth behind the apocalyptic infection—before the beast within her takes over and seals her fate forever.

Who is she? What is she? The fate of Earth hinges on the answers. And even all her courage may not be enough when the moment of truth arrives.

Release date: September 1, 2017.

Let me start things off with saying that I hyped up this book way more than I should have. There were so many things that completely fell flat from my expectations.

Queen of Shadows, by Sarah J. Maas | (RE-Read) Book Review #403

Queen of Shadows is the 4th book in the Throne of Glass series, by Sarah J. Maas.

This review contains spoilers.

The queen has returned.

Everyone Celaena Sardothien loves has been taken from her. But she’s at last returned to the empire—for vengeance, to rescue her once-glorious kingdom, and to confront the shadows of her past…

She has embraced her identity as Aelin Galathynius, Queen of Terrasen. But before she can reclaim her throne, she must fight.

She will fight for her cousin, a warrior prepared to die for her. She will fight for her friend, a young man trapped in an unspeakable prison. And she will fight for her people, enslaved to a brutal king and awaiting their lost queen’s triumphant return.

The fourth volume in the New York Times bestselling series continues Celaena’s epic journey and builds to a passionate, agonizing crescendo that might just shatter her world.

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So, one thing that I remember not liking about Queen of Shadows was that there were so many points of view. The farther we go into the Throne of Glass series, the more POV’s we read from, and the more I feel like Celaena’s point of view on things gets washed away…

However, I remember liking this book simply because of how much happens. I also really liked how the story is filled with so much action—-in all of the points of view we read from.

This book review is actually a re-read book review. So this time around my thoughts on Queen of Shadows are, admittedly, a little jumbled. 

The Girl From Blind River, by Gale Massey | {ARC} Book Review #394

**Disclaimer: I received an Advanced Reader Copy from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This in no way impacted my review.**

A gritty tale of how far we’ll go to protect the ones we love for fans of Daniel Woodrell’s Winter’s Bone and Emma Cline’s The Girls from Gale Massey, a talented new name in crime fiction.

Everyone says the Elders family are nothing but cheats, thieves, and convicts—a fact nineteen-year old Jamie Elders has been trying desperately to escape. She may have the natural talent of a poker savant, but her dreams of going pro and getting the hell out of the tiny town of Parsons, New York are going nowhere fast. Especially once she lands in a huge pile of debt to her uncle Loyal.

At Loyal’s beck and call until her debt is repaid, Jamie can’t easily walk away—not with her younger brother Toby left at his mercy. So when Loyal demands Jamie’s help cleaning up a mess late one night, she has no choice but to agree. But disposing of a dead man and covering up his connection to the town’s most powerful judge goes beyond family duty. When it comes out that the victim was a beloved athlete and Loyal pins the murder on Toby, only Jamie can save him. But with a dogged detective on her trail and her own future at stake, she’ll have to decide: embrace her inner criminal, or defy it—and face the consequences.

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Publication Date: July 10, 2018.

I ended up marking The Girl From Blind River as Did Not Finish at 16%.

I was very excited to read The Girl From Blind River precisely because this book is a Mystery that genuinely interested me. Going into reading this novel I kept my expectations low. I didn’t want to end up not liking this book, just because there’s so much potential that I might’ve actually ended up enjoying The Girl From Blind River.

Drawn in by the interesting cover, I felt like I could really read The Girl From Blind River–especially because of that intriguing synopsis!

However, once I started reading Jamie’s story I almost immediately realized that Jamie’s story just wasn’t for me. Other people seemed to have loved it, which is great. I just couldn’t cope with how depressed Jamie was in the beginning, since it was triggering my own depression.

Happy Reading!
— Adele

(DNF) Has to Be Love, by Jolene Perry | {ARC} Book Review #376

I received an Advanced Reader Copy of Has to Be Love by Jolene Perry from Albert Whitman & Company, via Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review. This in no way impacted my review.

Years ago, Clara survived a vicious bear attack. She’s used to getting sympathetic looks around town, but meeting strangers is a different story. Yet her dreams go far beyond Knik, Alaska, and now she’s got a secret that’s both thrilling and terrifying—an acceptance letter from Columbia University. But it turns out her scars aren’t as fixable as she hoped, and when her boyfriend begins to press for a forever commitment, she has second thoughts about New York. Then Rhodes, a student teacher in her English class, forces her to acknowledge her writing talent, and everything becomes even more confusing—especially with the feelings she’s starting to have about him. Now all Clara wants to do is hide from the tough choices she has to make. When her world comes crashing down around her, Clara has to confront her problems and find her way to a decision. Will she choose the life of her dreams or the life that someone she loves has chosen? Which choice is scarier?

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Publication Date: September 25, 2015.

Please note that I marked Has to Be Love as Did Not Finish (DNF) at 23%. 

Initially I had high hopes for Has to Be Love. I really wanted to know what happened to Clara and if she came to terms with her scars, or if she got her scars fixed. yet quickly into reading Has to Be Love, I realized that this book just wasn’t for me. Which is disappointing, because I genuinely did want to end up liking this book.

What I didn’t like about this novel was that I did not like the attraction that Clara had towards her new student-teacher that is still, technically, a student himself. That’s what drew me away from finishing the rest of this novel.

I give Has to Be Love, 1 star.

Happy Reading!
— Adele

Books I DNF’d Part 3/?

Hello! Today’s post as you can read via the title is about the books I’ve marked as DNF. DNF stands for Did Not Finish. A little while ago I did my first “DNF” post. I thought that one would be my last.. Turns out, there are quite a few books that I’ve lost interest in, or for some reason they’ve failed to keep my attention.

Whether the book has caused me to lose interest, or I’m just not feeling the book at the moment.. There could be any amount of reasons why I didn’t finish a book. I could not like the writing, a character, or an event in the story that has caused me to stop reading.

As of late I’ve had a few more books that I’ve marked as DNF. Here they are!:

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• Fireblood by Jeff Wheeler

I started to read Fireblood by Jeff Wheeler. Ultimately, I couldn’t get into the story as much as I had wanted to, and DNF’d the story pretty early on into the book. The story didn’t grab  my attention as I hoped it would, even though there are some interesting facts about the main character. Which is completely upsetting because I wanted to like and get into this book. I really did. I just couldn’t though.

• Last Seen Leaving by Caleb Roehrig

I really, really wanted to be able to get into reading Last Seen Leaving — And maybe someday I will. However, the first time ’round reading Last Seen Leaving, I just couldn’t get into the book at all. I really felt as that there was a block preventing me from reading ast Seen Leaving. I got 64 pages into the novel, and then flipped to the back of the book and read the last 30-50 pages of the ending.

• A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness

It’s probably the images in the book that are putting me off. The story was interesting up until Conor relentlessly whined about his grandmother. I got to page 86 (42%).

• Linked by Imogen Howson

While I initially was intrigued by the synopsis, it turns out that I didn’t like what I read! The book was moving too slowly for me to enjoy the book. I stopped reading at page 119 (33%).

• Dreamstrider by Lindsay Smith

The early talk of a forbidden love has soured my optimism for the book. I may try and read this again at a later time, but for now I am happily marking this as DNF.

• Aerie (Magonia, #2) by Maria Dahvana Headley

I don’t know what’s been up with me lately, but for some reason, I just can’t get into a few of the YA Fantasy books that I’ve been wanting to read? I don’t have the patience for how slow the book is unless the book starts with racing action, right from page one. However, trying to read Aerie made me realize that I don’t think I’m going to enjoy reading this second installation to the series — even though I’m interested in finding out what happens.

Are there any books that you’ve not finished lately? 

Happy Reading!
Adele

3 Books that I’ve DNF’d

Now, you may be wondering what “DNF” means. DNF is an abbreviation for Did Not Finish. I don’t know about you, but for me, there will always be some books out there that I haven’t, and won’t, finish. Some, if not most of us have unfinished books. There are a few people out there in the world who have finished every book they’ve read. I congratulate you. I couldn’t have stuck with it even if I wanted to.

Here are some of the ones that I’ve recently left unfinished.