Review: Watership Down by Richard Adams

Watership Down by Richard Adams
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I don't exactly know how to rate this book.   I actually feel bad that I didn't immediately fall in love with it.  It was recommended so many times and it is well loved by so many.  I chose it to fulfill a book mentioned in another book challenge.  I recently finished up The Waste Lands by Stephen King, and one of the main characters mentions Watership Down.  They also mention Shardik, which Richard Adams also wrote.  As this was recommended many times for the 2017 reading challenge and it was available at the library I took a chance.  I had no idea what it was about, but I think I expected more of a fantasy and this really doesn't have any fantasy elements.  There is no magic or fantastical creatures, and Adams is very clear in the forward that he doesn't make the rabbits do anything that an actual rabbit can't do physically.  You can tell he went to great lengths to portray rabbits and their actions accurately in their natural habitat.

I didn't particularly enjoy Watership Down, but it was beautifully written. I think a younger version of myself would have really loved this book, but adult me just didn't connect with a story about rabbits and told from the perspective of rabbits. And that's is the basic plot line of this story, a group of rabbits takes off from their home or warren because one of the rabbits gets premonitions. This premonition leads them to face many hardships and find a new warren. This leads to new premonitions, and more hardships. All of the hardships that the rabbits face are typical things a rabbit in the wilderness would face weather, humans, predatory animals, hunger, the need for shelter, etc. Once they establish a new home, they come to realize there are no female rabbits in their group, so they figure out a way to explore the lands around them. This leads to a clan war with a nearby warren. The small group of rabbits face many challenges before their adventure is over. This is not a cute, fluffy bunny story. There is danger and violence, and can I just say I had no idea that bunnies could fight like that. I learned a great deal about rabbits from this book.

You can tell that Adams put a ton of work into his research, and you can tell alot of love went into the construction and telling of this story. I really loved the rabbit mythology he created and the stories the rabbits told each other. This definitely gets an A+ for quality of writing, character development, visual description, and plot development. The writing is excellent, and I can see why many love it and it is a favorite. I actually think my boys,would really enjoy this as it is an adventure story, and I think they are at the right age to fall in love with this story. While I didn't love it, I think I might enjoy sharing it and reading it with them.

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Review: As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride by Cary Elwes

As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride by Cary Elwes
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is by far the most charming and wonderful book I think I've ever listened to. I love The Princess Bride, and as Elwes mentions in this Tale I've watched it since the 80's when it came out, shared it with my kids, and it is as good now as it was then.  My husband calls me Buttercup, hence the name of the blog, and it comes from this movie as we've watched more times than I can count.  It is one of our favorites to watch together, that and Monty Python and The Quest for the Holy Grail.  We often talk to each other in quotes from those 2 movies, and I think Cary Elwes would approve.

It was wonderful to hear all of the cast's input on how fun and wonderful an experience it was to make one of my favorite movies. It was also interesting to hear about all of the people that were considered for the various roles, and how it just wouldn't have been the same had anything been different than what the film is today.  Can you imagine Arnold Schwarzenegger as Fezzik?  Wallace Shawn is and will always be Vizzini, no one else could have played that part.  I loved hearing about how Cary and Mandy trained for the sword fight and I was stunned to hear that the cast did almost all of their own stunts.  In today's age with CGI graphics and pretty much everything being possible, The Princess Bride was pretty fantastic considering what they had to work with at the time.  I love watching older movies when things were simpler and while they may look a little funny to today's youth, they feel more real to me.

At times it felt like a love letter from the cast to Andre the Giant. He is one of my favorite characters in film, and it is so heartwarming to hear that he was as gentle a giant in his real life as he was in the film. His life was not without hardships, but he seemed to always keep his spirits up and make everyone around him smile. The world needs more kind souls like Andre in it.

I loved all of the behind the scenes insights and stories that Elwes told. I was stunned to hear that the movie didn't do well after its release knowing how much of a classic it is. I'm happy that the classic blunder make in marketing the movie in the theaters was made up for by the VHS market and now DVDs and streaming media and the movie can be shared for years to come.

If you are a fan of the movie I highly recommend the audiobook. You will just miss some of the charm from the cast actually giving their insight and the tone of their delivery that you will miss from the written word, though I understand there are photos in the book that you miss out on in the audio version. This is a beautiful nod to a wonderful story, and I'm so glad to have experienced it.  I've never read William Goldman's book version of The Princess Bride, Inconceivable, I know!  I think I might after listening to Cary Elwes sing its praises.  I also plan on watching The Princess Bride as soon as possible.

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Review: The Queen's Rising by Rebecca Ross

The Queen's Rising by Rebecca Ross
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I received an ARC of this book from the publisher via Edelweiss+ in exchange for an honest review.  This book releases February 6, 2018, and I highly recommend it.

I really loved this! It isn’t as fast paced and action packed as typical YA fantasy, but I didn’t mind that one bit. It starts off slow and builds up to the action. I thought I knew how it was going to play out, but I was pleasantly surprised when the plot twist I thought I saw coming never happened. I love it when books aren’t predictable. I won’t spoil it for you either.

Queen’s Rising follows Brienna, a young girl who has been hidden away by her grandfather so her father won’t find her. We don’t know why it is important that her father doesn’t find her for much of the book, and I won’t spoil it for you now. Brienna is hidden at Magnalia, a school where talented students study one of the passions, wit, art, music, knowledge, or drama. Brienna struggles to find her place as a passion during her 7 years at Magnalia. She tries each of the passions and finds knowledge to be the best fit though she must study harder than the other students. Her teacher Master Cartier works hard to preparer her to find a patrion, which will signal the end of her studies at Magnalia. When she does not find a patron at her “graduation” she is left to continue her studies while the other students go off on their own adventures. Around the time of graduation, Brienna begins experiencing visions related to memories of one of her ancestors. These visions are tied to her ancestor and a lost artifact that once belonged to a queen. Brienna becomes entangled in a plot to restore the queen’s lineage to the throne. She must use the visions to find the artifact and place the rightful queen back on the throne of a broken country.

I absolutely loved Ross’ writing. It drew me in from the beginning. I loved the characters. The bad guys were bad, the good guys were good, and there were some ambiguous characters that you just weren’t sure about. I loved the visuals that were painted. My only real complaint, and it is very minor, was that all of the characters had aliases because they were all in hiding as the plot unfolds. I was confused at times as to who was who, but most of the time it was with side characters that didn’t really play much of a role in the story. I also loved that the story stands alone. It appears to be part of a trilogy, but I very much appreciate that it ends with a satisfying ending and I don’t have to wait until the next book to find out what happens. I want to read the next book because I want to know what lies in store for the world and the characters.


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Review: Torn by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Torn by Jennifer L. Armentrout
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Torn picks up where Wicked leaves off. Ivy has just discovered a very big secret about herself. She struggles with what she learns for the entire book and how that will shape her moving forward. Her secret hasn't changed who she is, but it has to the potential to change how Ren feels about her, and possibly puts everyone she knows in danger.

We learn that not all of the fae may be evil, and that sends Ivy on a mission to find more about fae that might be able to help her defeat the prince and his evil entourage. Prince Drake shows us how ancients end up tricking humans into willingly sleeping with fae with his creepy trickery. He continues his evil ways by kidnapping Ren and luring Ivy to him. Ivy makes a deal to save Ren and promises to give into Drake and have the "apocalypse baby". We see Drake try to break Ivy, and Ivy almost give into the weakness she sees inside herself. Torn is the perfect title for this book as that is exactly what Ivy is through most of the book. She was a bit naïve in Wicked, but she finds herself torn between what she thought she knew, who she thought she was, and who she needs to become based on what she learns and what she goes through. It is this weakness that will make her stronger, and I look forward to seeing her put the pieces of herself back together in book 3.

I loved that we got more Tink, and I hope we get more Tink in Brave. I really enjoyed getting to know more about Brownies and fae in general. We get more of his hilarious antics and banter. I also love his loyalty to Ivy. I’m looking forward to hearing more about the “good” faeries and see where the kind of revolution that Ivy and company find themselves a part of at the end of Torn is headed.

Review: The Atlantis Gene by A.G. Riddle

The Atlantis Gene by A.G. Riddle
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I have had this book forever.  It came up as a recommendation on Amazon or Goodreads for someone who likes Dan Brown.  I'm glad I finally go around to reading it.

I liked this, but there was a lot going on in this book. I hope to continue the series, as there is a ton of potential here and I want to know where the story goes. I do think it was an interesting tale, I just didn't find it to be super fast paced like other readers did. This has all of the elements of books that I like science, history, lost civilizations, and everything else that you want from an espionage thriller/mystery type of book.  This is reminiscent of Dan Brown's books, so fan's of Deception Point and Digital Fortress should definitely check this one out. 

This was also book 51 of 52 for the reading challenge I was working through for 2017.  This was my espionage thriller.  I don't think that played into my feelings for the book, but I think it may have played into the slump I was in the last week of the year and the but of a slump I'm in now.  I really fought to finish my last 2 books.  I think I was in a bit of a fatigue at that point.

Most of the time I had no idea what was going on, and normally I don't mind not being able to tell what's going to happen in a book. I actually prefer it. This just had way to much going on. There were so many plot lines going on it felt jumbled and confusing. Things get resolved conveniently way to often, and I was left rolling my eyes way to often for this to be a great book. The clunky plot lines made the pacing too slow for my taste. Mystery and thriller type books should be fast paced and hold your attention, I kept finding myself wanting to read something else because I couldn't stay engaged with the confusing plot and the flat characters. The super smart doctor out to cure autism is also very ditzy and a damsel in distress for most of the book. I wanted her to be a little stronger and not rely so much on the male lead. David the hero was robotic and cold, I didn't find him compelling at all. The romance between David and Kate was pretty cringe worthy and unnecessary in my opinion. I think that was also a big problem I had with this book, I didn't like any of the characters. I have a hard time reading a book when I don't like any of the characters. I didn't like either main character.

All of the name switching and keeping track of who was who was very clever and also very confusing. I feel like I needed to write it all down so I could keep track of all of the characters.

Overall, this wasn't bad, I just wanted this to be a book that I couldn't put down. I think I expected that and I was a bit disappointed when it wasn't that. I do plan on continuing the series as I am interested to see where it goes.

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My Year in Review: 2017

Overall, I think I had a great reading year for 2017. I started out with a goal to read 50 books, moved that to 75 when I realized I was going to reach 50 at some point through the year. I never thought I would reach 100 books. I started listening to audio books at the end of 2016, and that has really helped me get to alot more books.  I "read" 40 books via audio, normally I get to between 50 and 60 books a year.  I know everyone has their own view on reading via audio, but for me, it is a great way to get to books while I'm commuting several hours a week, doing laundry or other chores, or at the gym.  I can't get into every audio book and opt to read them in print, but I've grown to love them, and will continue to use them.  My local library has a great selection which helps.  I do most of my reading on Kindle, because it is easier for me.  I think I only read 5 physical books, but that will change in 2018 as I bought a bunch of physical books I want to get to.

I participated in the Popsugar Reading Challenge this year. It is the first challenge I've ever participated in and I'm so glad I found it. Both the Goodreads and Facebook groups are awesome for discussion and recommendations. I found myself not wanting to finish my last 2 books for the 2017 challenge but all of the positive encouragement from the groups helped me push through the last 2 books. I'm excited for 2018. I have some books penciled in, but don't want to be overly strict with my list, if it feels like work it isn't fun anymore.

I really started reviewing and posting to the blog this year. I hope to post alot more this year, I need to find a better rhythm, but let's face it my life is crazy.  I work full time, I'm a mom and my kids activities keep me pretty busy, and reading is what keeps me sane.  I've got a bunch of ARCs to review during the first part of the year and I'm very excited to get to them.  I've got a backlog of posts I need to get to, so hopefully I'll get to those now that the holidays are coming to a close.

MY AVERAGE RATING FOR 2017 3.5

Here is a quick summary of my ratings.  I read some really excellent books this year, discovered some new favorites, and reread some old tried and true loves.  I really only read one that I didn't like.  The 2 stars were, just OK, not good and not bad.  I try to be critical with my reviews, though I will boost a rating based how much I enjoyed the reading experience.  

I hope you had an awesome 2017 in general and hope you read some great books.  Here's to a great 2018 and more great books!

Teaser: Moonlight Sins by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Jennifer L. Armentrout has a new contemporary romance series releasing in January 2018 and I can't wait.  I don't love contemporary romance, but I make an exception when it comes to JLA's writing.  I will always read her books expecially when she promises a contemporary with suspense and mystery, and more...

This sounds like something that will keep me interested, and I always end up loving her characters and the dialogue she writes between her hero and heroine.  They typically have excellent banter, and I can get behind that in any genre.

Meet the de Vincents… and leave your morals at the door.

1/30/2018

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Julia Hughes has always played it safe until she learned a very painful lesson. Now Julia’s starting over with a job in the Louisiana bayou—and a scorching encounter with a stranger, only to discover he’s Lucian de Vincent . . . her new employer. The de Vincent brothers share a massive fortune and a dark reputation. Julia cares for their troubled sister, but a menacing presence in the mansion—and the ever-present temptation of Lucian—prove dangerously distracting.

Lucian’s grandmother claimed de Vincent men fall in love once—and hard. Apparently, it’s Lucian’s turn. Julia’s compassionate care of his twin makes Lucian want to lay himself bare. But some secrets are better for Julia not to know.

The recent “suicide” of Lucian’s father is the latest in a string of deaths on the estate. Someone is eliminating the de Vincents. And the best way to get to Lucian may be through Julia. . . .