Angelfall Susan Ee | Review

Discovered: Goodreads

Status: Read

Purchased: Barnes & Noble Online

Mode: Paperback

Goodreads Rating: ****

Did you grow up in a Christian family or at least around one? If so, you probably heard about the Second Coming and Christian apocalypse. Susan Ee takes this religious expectation and fear and spins it into a YA epic of survival, family, and loyalty.

  

I began my summer with a vampire apocalypse and now I'm ending it with an angel apocalypse!

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Synopsis:

The world as Penryn knows it has come to an end. Angels, the ethereal creatures we've often dreamed of,  have descended from heaven and destroyed civilization. The surviving humans have scattered, some forming dangerous gangs, while angels parole our cities. The only thing on Penryn's mind is to keep her mentally unstable mother and disabled younger sister, Paige, alive while moving from point A to point B. However things go awry when she and her family get caught in a battle among angels. Paige is kidnapped and Penryn is stuck with the dying angel, Raffe. Now she must form an unlikely pact with her enemy in order to save Paige and keep her family together. Their mission takes them through the ruins of Silicon Valley and San Francisco as they try to come to terms with a world overrun with angels and other creatures that were never meant to dwell on earth.

In Depth:

If I can describe Angelfall with one word it would be refreshing. It's unbelievable how fast I finished the book. It easily eclipsed the primary book I was reading. Heck, it eclipsed work, food, and sleep.  I was an hour late to work because I couldn't get up in time after reading Angelfall until 3 in the morning. I was hooked! 

What's refreshing about the structure of Angelfall is that the chapters are short. Usually when a book has long chapters (25-40 pages) I need to take breaks before I start on another one. But the short chapters of Angelfall increased my pace. I just needed to read one more chapter, then another and another... and another. 

Penryn is a refreshing heroine. Sure, she's ruthless, brave, and sassy like many other YA heroines, but her interaction with Raffe is unique. I've read many badass heroines kind of wilt and soften when interacting with their male love interests; however Penryn is different. She  asserts her strength with Raffe by saving his ass multiple times, getting into fights, and throwing herself in danger for the ones she loves.  Although Raffe is the ancient and powerful angel, Penryn is stronger. 

Also, her overall goal is a refreshing change from the goals of other dystopia heroines. Many heroines are fighting to save the fate of humanity and bringing down an evil, all-powerful enemy. But Angelfall stands out with Penryn's less ambitious goals. She just wants to save her sister and keep her family together. She's accepted the fact that the world sucks and angels are hateful. Now she's going to deal by not budging from her very realistic priority. She's very human with realistic goals many young adults can relate to.

Lastly, I personally loved the Silicon Valley and San Francisco setting. Susan Ee does an amazing job describing the nature and culture of Northern California. I lived there for four years while in college, so it was startling to visualize such a familiar place flipped  upside down.

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I definitely recommend Angelfall to those looking for a unique take on YA dystopias and fallen angels.

The Smell of Books: A Short Confession | Bookish Musings

Ah, the smell of books. Please don't look at me with judgmental eyes and pretend you don't know what I'm talking about.

The smell of old book B.O. while you're walking down library aisles. That magical whiff when you crack open the spine of a newly published hardcover. It's such a special sense that Robin Sloan named a chapter in Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore, "The Smell of Books".

I acquired this special sense of reading when I had the sudden realization that the book I was holding was more than an inanimate object with words and pages. Rather, the book was alive! And all things that live and breathe also smell.

So next time you pick up a book, lean in for a good whiff. You'd be surprised that each book has its unique smell. Hey, you may even be able to associate a particular smell (sweet, musky, sour, bitter) to a particular genre or trope. For example, all the vampire books I own have a sour, dusty smell. My set of The Darkest Minds and Divergent series, which are both YA dystopias, smell jarringly sweet!
 
I'm not generalizing and saying all vampire books smell sour and all YA books smell sweet. This is a confession of my own reading fetish (a fetish I know many readers share). My other point is to encourage readers to expand their reading senses beyond seeing, feeling, and hearing. Lean in and take a whiff.

Horrorstör by Grady Hendrix | ARC Review

Discovered: BookRiot Youtube

Status: Read

Received: First Reads Giveaway from Quirk Books and Goodreads

Mode: Paperback

Goodreads Rating: ****

Ever wish you could sleep over at an Ikea?

Horrorstör by Grady Hendrix takes that simple curiosity of retail comfort and terrifies it into all things that go bump in the night. 

Synopsis:

Horrorstör is about an Ikea knock-off chain called Orsk where eerie things start to happen at one of its retail locations in Columbus, Ohio. Employees clock-in to find broken furniture, defecated sofas, and reversing escalators. Naturally, upright manager Basil Washington needs to do something about it and that something involves gathering a team of store partners to investigate during a graveyard shift. That team involves reluctant Amy, the ever-kind Ruth Anne, and quirky couple Matt and Trinity. And they're in for a surprise as a simple floor sweep takes them deep into the horrifying history and secret of the land Orsk is built upon.   

In Depth:

Do you know the true horror of Horrorstör? It's the idea that the paranormal is not limited to haunted houses, schools, and hospitals. It's found in everyday retail stores and the furniture we bring into our homes. Orsk is a satire on the labor and culture of the retail industry. The exaggerated company motto plastered all over the store does nothing to ebb the monotony of mindless work, nor does it hide the sterile corporate mindset we see at the end of the book. Also, Horrorstör shows that the work and furniture we take for granted could be perverted into something horrifying and unforgiving. 

My Favorite Parts:

What's great about this book is that it reads like a movie. At first, I started reading Horrorstör as a secondary book, to take breaks from the primary book I was reading at the time. After three chapters, it took the place of my primary book. I was hooked! The narrative and story flowed and I was easily visualizing every chapter as if I was watching a horror film inside my mind. 

Lastly, if you've done some research you'll know that the book was created to look like an Ikea catalog. One my favorite parts of Horrorstör is the illustration and description of a piece of furniture in the beginning of every chapter. And that piece of furniture takes precedent in that specific chapter. It was scary and awesome flipping through the pages and seeing the growing perversion of each furniture. 

All I'm asking of Grady Hendrix and Quirk Books is a sequel to Horrorstör! I love the Amy-Basil duo and would love to see them kicking more ghost-butts!

I'm A Happy Book-shopper | Bookish Musings

I've always considered book-shopping a solitary activity. I spend a lot of time at bookstores, perusing book covers, spines, and synopsis. The art of book-shopping is many things to me, myself and I: therapeutic, fun, adventurous even stressful. So I didn't realize how one friendly comment from a fellow book-shopper would change my book-shopping experience.

Again, I was at a bookstore, aiming for a therapeutic experience after a stressful week at work. Perusing the YA, fantasy, and fiction shelves, I was randomly picking and dropping books, not really considering to buy this book or that book. For a moment, I had The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern in my hand when out of nowhere a woman says to me "That's a great book." 

I was caught off guard that someone had actually spoken to me at a bookstore! Weird, huh? One would think there would be a rumble of verbal activity among book lovers, but I noticed that bookstores are often silent with shoppers who seem to have raised a wall between themselves and everything not books.  

The nice woman and I had a conversation about The Night Circus for about a minute. And I realized, sometimes it's not the reviews on Goodreads and Amazon that convince me to buy a book; rather it's the friendly interactions with shoppers that spark my interest and wallet.

To Binge or Not To Binge? | Bookish Musings

I'm ashamed to say that it's been almost a month since my last post. But hey, I had a MEGA book haul with three trilogy sets. So far I finished the Blood of Eden Trilogy, The Grisha Trilogy, and 2/3 of The Inheritance Trilogy. I'm so glad I found these trilogies because they're amazing stories. So amazing that I've been spacing out at work thinking of vampire apocalypses, villainous love interests, and tempestuous gods. But after three weeks of intense reading, I've come to question the concept of binge reading, especially for the sake of reading X amount of books during a certain period of time.

The onslaught of reading five books in one week has prevented me from actually soaking up each story. Although, I'm gobbling books like Patrick up there, I'm not really savoring them. Sure, I finally know the fate of the world after a vampire apocalypse or Darkling takeover, but I'm not halting my breaks to ask questions of morality and other symbolic issues related to the hefty plot. Binge reading has caused my reading experience to become more plot driven and usually that's not all there is to a novel. Under the artistic frothing of each latte is the rich and complex flavor of coffee. Coffee gurus, anyone? 

I think there's been too much hype for finishing X amount of books during a certain period of time, usually a month. I've been watching a lot of "Monthly Wrap-Up" videos on Youtube and the sheer number of books finished by some Book-tubers is clearly admirable. I mean, I even got motivated, put on my speed-reading pants, and finished ten books last month. Unfortunately, I realized I've been reading for the sake of finishing books on my TBR shelf, rather than actually reading for pleasure.

So back to the initial question, To Binge or Not To Binge?  In short, that's up to you. Who am I to tell you how many books you should or shouldn't read in a month? As a reader, one thing I hate above all is book snobbery and bookators (book-dictators), who are disillusioned to think that they have the right to dictate reading practices. Just throwin' that out there. But once you set yourself to these reading goals/marathons, remember it's alright to halt the breaks. It's not a race y'all, it's reading.

The Dreamblood Series by N.K. Jemisin | Review

I just want to take a moment and appreciate the covers of both books.

 

[sigh...]

Discovered: BookRiot.com

Status: Read

Purchased: BookRiot Quarterly Box; Barnes & Noble Online

Mode: Paperback

Goodreads Rating: *****

Aren't they beautifully epic?! A few posts back, I received The Killing Moon from the Book Riot Quarterly box. It was one of three books and I was instantly enamored with the cover. It's just so effin' pretty! Then I read the synopsis and was instantly hooked. 

I've never been an adventurous fantasy reader. My foray into "things beyond reality" is limited to the paranormal. My alternate reality "comfort zone" consists of vampires and a sprinkling of werewolves. So I was pretty surprised when my "need-to-read-like-now" radar perked after getting my hands on The Killing Moon. Maybe it was the excitement of receiving my first Book Riot Quarterly? Probably. I also couldn't resist the pull of the unique and seductive world of the Dreamblood.

In The Killing Moon, we have Ehiru and Nijiri, Gatherers of the Hetawa, which is the religious cult of Gujaareh. And there is Sunandi, a fierce diplomat from the neighboring and rival city-state of Kisua. In the face of a megalomaniac Prince, a Reaper, political and religious conspiracy, and world war, these three characters journey to achieve a far-reaching diplomatic endeavor to preserve the fate of humanity

The Shadowed Sun is set ten years after the conclusion of The Killing Moon. It mainly follows Wanahomen, the exiled son of the previous megalomaniac Prince, and Hanani, a Healer of the Hetawa. It also follows Tiannet, a young woman whose struggles show that power and greed are not limited to ruling political and religious bodies. Recurring characters such as Nijiri and Sunandi are also present as everyone comes together to reclaim Gujaareh from Kisuati rule. In addition to war, our characters must battle an epidemic that has crossed political lines into the dreamworld. To put it simply, Jemisin takes the world she's built in The Killing Moon and flips it upside down in The Shadowed Sun and it's pretty damn epic! 

While The Killing Moon and The Shadowed Sun are nostalgic of ancient Egyptian culture, Jemisin manages to weave a fantastical and independent world with its own culture, politics, and mysticism. The startlingly familiarity of certain aspects of the setting is thought provoking. For instance, both books present a world that is fascinatingly contradictory. In The Killing Moon, love and sexuality are presented unbound by our own traditional definitions of the norm, yet Gujaareh is governed by a monarchy and single religion. In The Shadowed Sun, the Banbarra tribe is presented as barbarian and nomadic, yet the customs are role reversing. Men wear veils, while women rule and conduct family businesses. Doesn't this just sound so cool?

Both books have opened the doors of adult fantasy for me. Whilst reading, I'm usually the voyeur peering into the world and lives of the book. Rarely do I have a book where I feel like I'm walking side by side the characters. The Dreamblood series seem to have bridged that gap between reader and book.

Young Adult, Fantasy and Everything In Between | Book Haul

Do you ever have that constant thought of meaning to buy some particular item/s? And that desire to buy those items constantly bothers you night and day? So you just go to the store and run your hands all over said items wishing you had the capacity to purchase them? Well, that happens to me A LOT (you know you do this too). And I have a love/hate relationship with my URRRRge to buy everything on my TBR pile. I love the fact that there are just so many damn good books to read out there. But I also hate the fact that I don't have them yet! 

So I went a little mega on my book haul this month and just bought most of the books I've been wanting to read. Yes, it'll take a while to read them but at least I have them in my hands, right? And I am ecstatic! 

I've already completed reading The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms before publishing this post! Don't judge me; there was a gap between the arrival of my first batch and second batch. 

Without further ado, here's my mega book haul!

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

After reading Eleanor & Park I just had to get Fangirl. It's just not enough reading just one of Rainbow Rowell's books. I see Fangirl on the shelves of every Barnes & Noble I happen to peruse and the YA BookTube community is raving about it. So Fangirl, COME. TO. ME.

How To Tell Toldeo From the Night Sky by Lydia Netzer

This is a lovely book I heard of on one of the episodes of The Book Riot Podcast, in which Rebecca Schinsky and Amanda Nelson rave about this new release. Since I trust Book Riot's recommendations I knew I would love this book as well. Also, I don't read a lot of books with an astrology premise. The last one I read was The Movement of Stars by Amy Brill and I loved it. It's about time I get lost in the stars again.

The Inheritance Trilogy by N.K. Jemisin

Speaking of getting lost in stars, let's get lost with hunky gods, goddesses, and godlings. After being sucked into the Dreamblood series, I just had to get my hands on N.K. Jemisin's other works. This trilogy was published before the Dreamblood series and it's just as good. I already finished The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms and the feels, THE FEELS! A review is well under way people!

The Blood Eden Series by Julie Kagawa

A paranormal dystopian! A vampire romance! And *drumroll* an Asian/American heroine in a YA series. Now, you don't see that often. Naturally, I had to get my hands on this series. Yes, there are many books out there with similar premises. Heck these days, the YA genre is dominated by dystopias and vampires. But a vampire + dystopia? I peruse a lot of paranormal books and I have yet to come across another series that combine both premises. If there are others, feel free to recommend. And although I've been really into fantasy lately, I've always been a lover of paranormal fiction. Since high school, I found those elements more sexy and trilling. So I just know I'll get a unique reading experience with The Blood Eden series while still dipping into one of my favorite genres. Also, hurrah to Julie Kagawa and Harlequin Teen for bringing diversity into YA literature. 

The Grisha Trilogy by Leigh Bardugo

Have you seen this trilogy everywhere? Good, so have I. I've heard of this trilogy on Book Riot, Twitter, and BookTube; and I've seen it on the YA front shelves of every bookstore. I admit, I wasn't able to jump on the boat/moment of other big name trilogies, so I didn't want to miss out on this one. But that's now the only reason why I've bought these. I'm actually a lot more interested in this trilogy than any other books that have been turned into movies. I admit (again), I'm not as excited to read this as I am of my other books, but I have a pretty good feeling that I'll end up loving them all the same. Woohoo books!