Books I finished reading:
What's it about: murder, mystery, friendship, books
This started really good and then it became kind of bland. The mystery was just okay. There are a lot of book references, mostly Alice in Wonderland, which I got because I saw one of the movies but I didn't read that book. This was a decent read but I don't like it enough to read the rest of the series.
What's it about: mystery, missing children, odd characters
I like how it was written, moving from character to character and revealing the mystery bit by bit. Though I didn't really like the ending. I guess I was hoping for something a little less creepy and more fun. But it has a happy ending. I like this but I didn't love it. And the cover is of the boy character, not Beatrice, which is kind of weird because I thought it was a girl on the cover.
What's it about: witches, murders, talking cat, magic
The title said books but the books together is less than 560 pages so it's a novella series. The story was good but the writing was not good. There are one too many commas where it should have been periods and easy grammar/spelling mistakes that anyone reading it would see. I didn't like how the author use anything but said for the dialogues tags - they laughed, giggled, shrugged, huffed, do anything but speak their words. But things such as, My grandmother was stood behind him (was stood is used a lot) - how can this be correct? But strangely, it is correct as it is British English. I didn't know this so it sounded wrong to my American ears. I guess it's weird to have this British English and everything else sounded not British at all. Still, the writing needs more polish, British or not. There is an epilogue of future happenings to the main character in the last book to complete the story but kind of odd considering these kind of books often have 10 or 20 books but I guess the author wanted to finish this series.
What's it about: witches, magic, murder, new beginnings
I really like the beginning where the main character turns her soon-to-be-ex-boyfriend into a frog but then I started to dislike the main character as she started to sound like a child most times. And the way she keeps telling everyone to call her JJ is kind of annoying, like Juniper is such a bad name or something. I like the idea of someone becoming a witch at a late age (which is mostly this book) but her thoughts about wanting to go back to her old life keeps getting in the way which is just dumb. If your old life sucks so bad (lost boyfriend, lost job, lost housing, lost friends), why would you want to go back? Still, it was a decent read if you pretend the main character was half her age. And the constant pop culture references annoys me and distracts from the story or perhaps I should say, they work to make the world less of a reality. So yes, this is set in the modern world but this is also a fantasy so all the pop culture references just makes the reader harder to accept this world.
Note: I wasn't enjoying this so I didn't finish reading this.
What's it about: cats, space, people in space doing a lot of cursing
Mostly, I just find this rather mundane. Even the beginning of the book where the main character and her crew chases cats, I find it kind of boring. I didn't find any humor that was promised. Characters (most of them are not human) are described in a way that I don't get what they are supposed to look like aside from having various odd body parts and odd nicknames.
The main character curses every few instances and it's not even out of anger. I get that she was once a badass but the excessive cursing for no reason I don't get. Is it a character trait? If you look at the cover, do you expect all that cursing? And they use the F word as a verb which I always find vulgar and unnecessary but I supposed they have to go all out and keep the cursing going.
And the main character speaks (and sometimes curses) in Spanish a lot but there are no explanations or translations and the assumption is that in this world, everyone knows Spanish except the readers reading this book. So yes, I read on a kindle and can get the Spanish translated but I don't want to waste time translating every few instances, it interrupts the reading. This book should be categorized as a bilingual book. But it was interesting the ship's name La Sirena Negra translated into The Black Mermaid.
The best thing about this book is the cover and the tag line: Kidnappers. Alien emperors. Psychic cats. And she's out of coffee. I had wanted the psychic cats to do something but they are basically props, just there to nap on people's laps and look cute.
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TV shows/movies I had watched:
What's it about: mystery, murder, crimes, law, quirky characters
I really like this thoughtful show and the main characters are fun to watch, everyone of them had some quirks that makes none of them normal. There seems to be a lot of wrestling references with famous wrestling people (I'm not sure as I don't follow Japanese wrestling) but one of the characters really love wrestling (in season 1). And a lot of food as one of the main character cooks while thinking through the cases. It is interesting that people are found guilty until proven innocent instead of the other way around. I like season 1 more than season 2 and the movie was good but the mystery was a little bland.
What's it about: mystery, murder, thoughtful ideas
The first part is actually the first episode of the show with a bit of extra scenes but I still like watching it again and the second part was interesting but I didn't like the mystery as much but it was still a good movie.
How was your January? I hope February is being good to you.
In January, I finally got around to watching the series "The Marvelous Mrs Maisal" which streams on Amazon Prime Video. Five seasons, very worthwhile. Right now, I'm working my way through "The Umbrella Academy" on Netflix. Also worth the time and effort! There are 3 seasons of it and a 4th final season is coming perhaps this year or next.
ReplyDeleteDebra: I haven't seen those shows but I glad you've enjoyed them and will enjoyed them. I don't binge watch shows much but if I have time, I would do it.
DeleteIt's so hard, I swore I had replied to these comments but I guess I didn't. Anyway, thank you for coming by. Have a lovely day.
Thanks for sharing books read -Christine cmlk79.blogspot.com
ReplyDeleteChristine: Thank you for coming by. Have a lovely day.
DeleteI feel like January just FLEW. And happy b-day!
ReplyDeleteThat's good to know about the Valdes book since I had my eye on that, due to cats.
Greg: Yes, January flew by, also, February through July. I seem to have forgotten to reply to comments on this post.
DeleteYou might want to give the Valdes book a try. I didn't finish the book so maybe the cats do something?
Thank you for coming by. Have a lovely day.
You said that you don't like birthdays very much lately, but...happy belated birthday nonetheless!
ReplyDelete"If your old life sucks so bad (lost boyfriend, lost job, lost housing, lost friends), why would you want to go back?"
Indeed, why?
"Still, it was a decent read if you pretend the main character was half her age."
😂
"If you look at the cover, do you expect all that cursing?"
Not at all.
"I had wanted the psychic cats to do something but they are basically props, just there to nap on people's laps and look cute."
Really...why should one bother with putting psychic cats in their book if they aren't going to do, you know, psychic stuff? A letdown.
Roberta: Thanks for your late wishes. Like I said to the two commentators, I forgot to reply to this post's comments.
DeleteMaybe the psychic cats do things in the next books? It is series but still, expectations and all.
Thank you for coming by. Have a lovely day.