It’s been a while, hasn’t it? š
This month did not go as planned for me so far. I had lots of posts planned for end of year, but work has been extra busy lately! More later nights and weekends spent on work meant virtually no time for blogging, which I wasn’t anticipating! And while I have been reading still, I amĀ fourĀ reviews behind. Hopefully now things will be back to normal, but I definitely have some catching up to do on the blog. So here’s some mini-reviews of what I’ve read recently.
āāāā.5
CONTENT WARNINGS
Abuse (off-page), death of a prominent character, death of a parent, homophobia, transphobia, violence
Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas
Cemetery BoysĀ follows Yadriel, whose traditional Latinx family has problems accepting his true gender. In order to prove himself a real brujo, he enlists the help of his friend and cousin to find the ghost of his murdered cousin and set it free. Instead, he finds the ghost ofĀ Julian, the schoolās bad boy, who requests help from Yadriel before he passes over. But the more time Yadriel spends with Julian, the less he wants him to leave.
I read this book after hearing so much love for it lately, and I really enjoyed it as well! I listened to this book on audio, and by as early as 5% through, I was already so attached and invested in the characters. Great character writing and development is definitely something I look out for when picking books to read, and Cemetery Boys definitely excelled in that aspect. I also really enjoyed the exploration of culture, faith, and family in this book, and how all of these things tied with Yadirel’s character and the story as a whole.Ā
The hype is definitely well-deserved for this book – if you’re interested, do give it a read!
The Ravens by Kass Morgan and Danielle Paige
The RavensĀ follows the girls of the Kappa Rho Nu sorrority, who are notorious at their campus. But the sorrority hides the secret of being a coven of witches. Vivi is a pledge for the sorrority, while Scarlett, a current sorrority sister and candidate for thhe organizationās President, has some skeletons hiding in her closet. When Scarlett and Vivi are paired as big and little, they find themselves lost in the world of blood oaths and betrayals.
The RavensĀ was a very enjoyable story overall. I loved the concept of this book as well as the unique setting – as someone who went to a Southern college campus, I was completely invested in the idea of a darker twist to it! I’ll likely be seeking similar books very soon.Ā
And while I did enjoy this one, there were certain elements to the plot that I didn’t like. There’s this odd love triangle/miscommunication subplot that I really wasn’t a fan of. There’s instances where I think tropes like this can be done well, but in this case it felt a bit annoying. Regardless, I really liked the overall concept and would love to find some similar books in the future.
Dubliners by James Joyce
This collection of 15 stories highlights life in Ireland at the turn of the century. Each story of the citizensā realities come together to show Ireland as a nation.
This was actually a partial re-read for me- I previously readĀ The DeadĀ andĀ ArabyĀ in college. There were definitely stories that stood out to me way more than others. But, I did like how these stories were so fixated on its characters at one point in time while also conveying early 1900’s Dublin as a whole. Some stories were more engaging than others, butĀ ArabyĀ remains a favorite from Joyce’s works that I’ve read. I suppose this means I should eventually tackle the copy ofĀ Finnegan’s WakeĀ that’s been on my shelf for a few years now!
And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
This story begins when ten guests are invited to stay on a small private island by a millionaire. These strangers have nothing in common except for their wicked pasts ā and once they arrive, they find that their invitee is nowhere to be found. One by one, the guests are turning up dead as told by the rhymes that are hung on the walls. Will any survive to find the murderer and tell the tale?
This was actually (somehow) my first Agatha Christie novel – and I’m looking forward to diving into more! While my suspicions turned out to be correct early on, I really enjoyed exploring the motives for the characters in this story. I also liked the level of detail that went into the setup behind this story. After reading this book, I’m definitely missing the traditional elements of mysteries that you just don’t get in other genres, and the balance of those elements in this book was just so good.
And that’s everything I read recently! I hope you’ve been finding good reads this December. I hope to be back on a normal blogging schedule very soon!
I was in the same boat as you: working more, less time for blogging. That is, until my daughter tested positive for Covid and we were quarantined until today. I listened/read to about 9 books that are waiting for me to write the reviews. I may have to do a recap like yours here. I’m a big fan of Agatha Christie and plan to read more of her during the coming year.
Oh no! I hope she’s feeling better. I’m glad I did some mini-reviews in hindsight because I felt like the review pile-up was getting to be a little too big, so I hope that works for you too if you decide to do one! There’s so many big fans of Agatha Christie out there and I’m glad I finally started reading her books.
Luckily she just had a mild case and the rest of us tested negative. I’m going to see how many reviews I can tackle tomorrow. I already have most of the upcoming week done as I like to work ahead, so the pressure is off a little.
That’s good! I’m glad it was just mild.