Water For Elephants

Water for Elephants - Sara Gruen

3/5 Stars

"An atmospheric, gritty, and compelling novel of star-crossed lovers, set in the circus world circa 1932 illuminated by a wonderful sense of time and place. Winner of the 2007 BookBrowse Award for Most Popular Book."

Review

This book is a little outside of my normal reading tastes, but I actually ended up really liking it! I don't think it's something that is going to stick with me over the years or anything, but it was an enjoyable quick read while it lasted :D

Pros 

Naturally, I loved the circus setting and to be honest this was the only reason I picked this book up... I've also never actually read a non-fantasy circus book before, so it was refreshing to have a more realistic approach to the certain tropes that most circus books have! Also the animals were really cool... Rosie's adorable!

The scenes with Mr Jankowski as an elderly man were definitely the highlight for me. The relationship between him and his nurse was amazing and actually really made me want to read more books from an older person's perspective. It was just interesting seeing how he saw certain things differently as an older man and how some opinions change over time, while others stay unchanged. These scenes also had really thought provoking dialogue and were the only times the book connected to me more than just being an entertaining read.

The writing was nothing special, but I did find it really fast and easy to read, which has helped me get out of my reading slump! So that's definitely a pro!

I also thought that the two different timelines linked nicely together, which lead to a satisfying ending. :D

Cons

While the romance in this book had a few cute moments, it also had some cringey ones! I don't think it was done badly or anything, but I do feel like it was introduced too late in the story and they kinda just both liked each other and that was it... If that makes any sense?

Also all the plot points were really generic and predictable, so I was never really shocked or surprised. This didn't bother me too much though, as I did still enjoy the story while I was reading it, but I doubt it's going to be something I remember a few books down the line...

Every character felt a little under developed to me, especially Marlena. Again this could be down to her being introduced too late in the story. :( When I read about new characters, I always imagine them as real people and imagine them in real-life situations xD For example what kinda take-away they'd order, but I literally couldn't tell you anything about Marlena... If there were more sorta 'bonding scenes' with her and Jacob, I think her character and the romance as a whole would have been more fleshed out and engaging.

I did really like this book though and I'm forever thankful for it (hopefully) getting me out of this slump I've been in! I'm tempted to watch the film at some point too, so I'll be interested to see what the adaptation is like! (If only for Rosie!) :D

My Goodreads Review

The Dream Thieves

The Dream Thieves - Maggie Stiefvatar

3/5 Stars

It's been such a slow reading month for me, so I'm happy I've finally finished this! Even if it is 1 am... But everyone knows late reading nights make the best nights! Right?

I definitely preferred the first book over this one, but there were still a lot of things I really liked!

The Idea of dreams has always been something that have fascinated me, so naturally I love how this is the main theme. I just find it insane to think about. It's crazy how we don't control what we think about, but that makes everything so clear. Like how are we the most imaginative when are brains are switched off? It just blows my mind... But anyway late night thoughts aside, I really liked how all the magic is based on the idea of dreams and it's such an original concept and is actually done really well. It's interesting not fully knowing the limitations of what can actually happen in a dream, which makes for some fun theorising!

Noah is by far my favourite character, I just love how creepy and cute he is! That's just a perfect combo in my eyes! I also grew to like Ronan a lot more by the end of this one and I feel like he's definitely becoming more of a focus to the story, which will be interesting going into Blue Lilly Blue!

I loved all the one on one character scenes. It's hard to explain, but I think Maggie is excellent at writing conversations between two people. I dunno, I just feel like that's when her characters come to life and have their own characteristics and banter and the book instantly becomes more fun and enjoyable to read. However, when there's more than one character in a scene, I can't help but feel like everyone sorta gets lost in the crowd, if that makes sense? And that's when things started to drag for me. .

This could be why I found myself enjoying the Gray Man's scenes more than the other POVs, as it tended to be more solitary and just a man with his thoughts for the most part. Although It annoyed me at the start how forced his 'mysteriousness' was, but I must admit he did start to intrigue me after that! :D

My main issue with The Dream Thieves is how hard I found it to picture everything on a page by page basis. Normally when I read I play a little movie in my mind, so without that I was left with just words on a page... I had this same problem with the first book, but now that the plot lines are getting more in depth, it became increasingly difficult to follow what was happening. Some more description on the setting and people's actions would have sorted this out for me, although it could just be down to my pesky reading slump at the moment D:

I also thought Kavinsky was kinda dumb... Everyone knows him apparently but I was just there like...who even is he? Why was he even there... go away... I don't get why he was suddenly introduced out of no where for some dumb Fast and Furious style car races xD Towards the end I obviously gathered why he was there, but I feel like he could have been introduced A LOT earlier, so it didn't feel so cheaply thrown in.

I will say though, that while I preferred The Raven Boys, I definitely like where things are going now! The ending got super interesting, so I'll 100% be continuing on with the series!   

My Goodreads Review

Howl's Moving Castle

Howl's Moving Castle - Diana Wynne Jones

3/5 Stars

While I had no recollection of the plot, I remember absolutely loving the Howl's Moving Castle Studio Ghibli film as a kid, so I went into this expecting to escape into a world of feel-good nostalgia. And I was for the first 100 pages, but then everything changed with the reading slump attacked... It took me over 2 weeks to get through the next 200 pages, but it wasn't even the book's fault, just me being a big dumb dumb. D:

As to the book itself, I really like how imaginative this world is and how ridiculous everything was! Just the idea of having a moving castle itself is super fun to me... I mean, what more could you want in life?! Well a dragon would be pretty cool but anyway... 

I also really liked how the story was introduced. The first few chapters were definitely my favorites, as it was entertaining to learn about everyone's wacky personalities and the randomness of the magic. Seriously, the magic is just completely crazy, but that's what I loved about it! Sometimes it's nice not to have a really in depth and detailed, scientific magic system... Sometimes I just want a living scarecrow and a cursed fireplace... is that so wrong? 

I know for a fact that I would have continued to love this book after the first 100 pages, if I had read it at a different time, which is why is why it's an annoying 3 stars... It deserves so much more but i just didn't enjoy reading it and it became a chore :( There was nothing I didn't like about it, but I just kept losing concentration and then losing track on the plot and eventually I just had no idea what was going on because I kept zoning out. Like I said though, this wasn't the book's fault, just me and the pesky little reading slump! *Shakes fist to the sky* 

I'm hoping to get out of it soon though and get back into reading again :D 

My Goodreads Review