Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros
Goodreads blurb: After nearly eighteen months at Basgiath War College, Violet Sorrengail knows there’s no more time for lessons. No more time for uncertainty. Because the battle has truly begun, and with enemies closing in from outside their walls and within their ranks, it’s impossible to know who to trust. ow Violet must journey beyond the failing Aretian wards to seek allies from unfamiliar lands to stand with Navarre. The trip will test every bit of her wit, luck, and strength, but she will do anything to save what she loves—her dragons, her family, her home, and him. Even if it means keeping a secret so big, it could destroy everything. They need an army. They need power. They need magic. And they need the one thing only Violet can find—the truth. But a storm is coming…and not everyone can survive its wrath.
my take: 4.25 out of 5. I was so excited for this and it absolutely met my expectations. I think the continuations will never get my love as much as Fourth Wing (Well hopefully the last one does) but I still loved it so much and was happy to continue in this journey. I made an error with this one and pre ordered the audiobook, and it was not the way. I think this book is so much better in print as there are so many names and weird places and dragons. All the island hopping was getting me confused in audiobook. Another huge cliffhanger on this one and i have gone down all the tik tok rabbit holes on theories and I might be even more confused but SOOO looking forward to book 4. Now if only it doesn’t take 2 years but the 1. I loved how much character development happened this year, and there was also so much stress as to what was going to happen.
The Paris Express by Emma Donoghue
Goodreads blurb: Emma Donoghue, the “soul-stirring” (Oprah Daily) nationally bestselling author of Room, returns with a sweeping historical novel about an infamous 1895 disaster at the Paris Montparnasse train station.Based on an 1895 disaster that went down in history when it was captured in a series of surreal, extraordinary photographs, The Paris Express is a propulsive novel set on a train packed with a fascinating cast of characters who hail from as close as Brittany and as far as Russia, Ireland, Algeria, Pennsylvania, and Cambodia. Members of parliament hurry back to Paris to vote; a medical student suspects a girl may be dying; a secretary tries to convince her boss of the potential of moving pictures; two of the train’s crew build a life away from their wives; a young anarchist makes a terrifying plan, and much more. From an author whose “writing is superb alchemy” (Audrey Niffenegger, New York Times bestselling author), The Paris Express is an evocative masterpiece that effortlessly captures the politics, glamour, chaos, and speed that marked the end of the 19th century.
This is an ARC review thanks to a gift from the publisher.
My take: 2.5 out of 5. Sometimes an event does not a story make. There were just too many characters and just not enough to care for me. My love of Starlight Express was the only thing that kept me reading for highlighting the beauty of a rolling stock . I understood more from the book with the author note and it was fun that she took characters from the time not in the train and put them in the train, but again i cared for few of them. The only really fully interesting character was Alice Guy, the filmmaker. Sometimes boring is worse than bad.
Austen at Sea by Natalie Jenner
Goodreads blurb: “If you’ve ever found sustenance in a Jane Austen novel—or sought meaning in your own life through the power of books—this is the novel you’ve been waiting for.” ~ Kristin Harmel, New York Times bestselling author THE PARIS DAUGHTER From the bestselling author of THE JANE AUSTEN SOCIETY comes a new novel about Austen’s fans set in 1865 Boston and Hampshire. In AUSTEN AT SEA, Henrietta and Charlotte Stevenson, the only children of a widowed Massachusetts supreme court judge, are desperate to experience freedom of any kind, at a time when young unmarried women are kept largely at home. Striking up a correspondence with Jane Austen’s last surviving sibling, ninety-one-year-old retired admiral Sir Francis Austen, the two sisters invite themselves to visit and end up sneaking on board the S. S. China, a transatlantic mail packet steamship heading to Portsmouth. They are joined on the China by a motley crew of fellow Americans including a reluctant chaperone, two Philadelphia rare book dealer brothers secretly also sailing at Admiral Austen’s request, a young senator’s daughter and socialite in hot pursuit of the brothers, and Louisa May Alcott, traveling to Europe for the first time as an invalid’s companion. Alcott will end up leading the other women on board ship in a charity performance of vignettes from Charles Dickens’s latest novel A TALE OF TWO CITIES, and hilarity ensues when the men petition to join. Landing in Portsmouth, the American visitors soon learn Sir Francis’s real purpose in receiving them, and the battle begins over a piece of Austen’s legacy so controversial, it will result in historic and climactic court cases on both sides of the Atlantic. Jenner’s trademark large cast of characters this time includes a theatre impresario, a newspaperman, a street waif, suffragists and Boston bluestockings, a fortune teller, a disgruntled divorce court judge, and the entire bench of the Massachusetts state supreme court. Releasing in the 250th year since Jane Austen’s birth, AUSTEN AT SEA is a celebration of literature and the lengths we will go to, to protect who and what we love.
This is an ARC review thanks to a gift from the publisher.
My take: 4 out of 5. A very appropriate book from the author of The Jane Austen Society, which I absolutely adored. Its a book by an Austen lover for Austen lovers and a way to make you go deeper in the characters. Loved that supreme judges were doing a jane austen book club, more men need to read Jane Austen I love the takes on Fanny Price and might need to do a reread. It was great that Louisa May Alcott was there but she was a bit insufferable although i learned to love her, but the juxtaposition of two of the best female authors, and ones that I adore was great. Henrietta and Scott came out of nowhere and i was just not into it. I in general didnt love how most of the relationships evolved but that was a bit Austenian. Some of my favorite quotes:
- freedom is not about ensuring you get everything you want, but rather becoming the best self that you can be therein lies life’s great reward for us and for those around us
- knowledge acquired instead of babies, that was the draconian decision women everywhere were forced to make.But the babies grow up and leave you all the same while knowledge never does.
Unromance by Erin Connor
Goodreads blurb: Sawyer Greene knows romance. She’s a bestselling author of the genre—or she was, until her college girlfriend left her with nothing but writer’s block and bitterness. So when Sawyer gets stuck in an elevator with a handsome stranger, she sees it for what it is: not a meet-cute but a chance encounter with a charming man whom she will sleep with exactly once and go on her way. Easy enough…until she runs into him again at a Christmas market straight out of a Hallmark holiday movie.
my take: 4 out of 5. This was a great fun read. I actually had no expectations going in and its a book for rom com lovers everywhere. It is actually the opposite of an unromance, it will convert those unromantic into full blown romantics. I loved the concept of a jaded romance writer, its it not the norm and made it quite funny. Also, the concept of going through the tropes as dates seems like such a great idea!
The Third Gilmore Girl by Kelly Bishop
Goodreads blurb: “Come for the Gilmore Girls anecdotes, stay for the revealing truths about what it takes to build a lifelong career in and out of Hollywood” (The A.V. Club) in this candid and captivating memoir from award-winning and beloved actress Kelly Bishop, spanning her six decades in show business from A Chorus Line, Dirty Dancing, Gilmore Girls, and much more. Kelly Bishop’s long, storied career has been defined by landmark achievements, from winning a Tony Award for her turn in the original Broadway cast of A Chorus Line to her memorable performance as Jennifer Grey’s mother in Dirty Dancing. But it is probably her iconic role as matriarch Emily in the modern classic Gilmore Girls that cemented her legacy. Now, Bishop reflects on her remarkable life and looks towards the future with The Third Gilmore Girl. She shares some of her greatest stories and the life lessons she’s learned on her journey. From her early transition from dance to drama, to marrying young to a compulsive gambler, to the losses and achievements she experienced—among them marching for women’s rights and losing her second husband to cancer—Bishop offers a rich, genuine celebration of her life. Full of witty insights, The Third Gilmore Girl is a warm, unapologetic, and spirited memoir from a woman who has left indelible impressions on her audiences for decades and has no plans on slowing down.
My take: 4.5 out of 5. Such a great memoir and the fact that its narrate by her is an absolute added bonus and one book that you should definitely do in audiobook because its a delight. A short sweet and super satisfying read. She mentions in the book that her original title for the book was At the Ballet, and although I love this title, I think I might have been partial to At the Ballet! such a storied career that it always allows for many options.
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