Review: Circe

Circe by Madeline Miller
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Release Date: April 10th, 2018
Source: Netgalley
Date Read: 4/10/18
400 pages

In the house of Helios, god of the sun and mightiest of the Titans, a daughter is born. But Circe is a strange child--not powerful, like her father, nor viciously alluring like her mother. Turning to the world of mortals for companionship, she discovers that she does possess power--the power of witchcraft, which can transform rivals into monsters and menace the gods themselves.

Threatened, Zeus banishes her to a deserted island, where she hones her occult craft, tames wild beasts and crosses paths with many of the most famous figures in all of mythology, including the Minotaur, Daedalus and his doomed son Icarus, the murderous Medea, and, of course, wily Odysseus.

But there is danger, too, for a woman who stands alone, and Circe unwittingly draws the wrath of both men and gods, ultimately finding herself pitted against one of the most terrifying and vengeful of the Olympians. To protect what she loves most, Circe must summon all her strength and choose, once and for all, whether she belongs with the gods she is born from, or the mortals she has come to love.

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I received this ARC in exchange for an honest review. Quotes taken from ARC may or may not be in the published edition.

I can’t believe I haven’t blogged or reviewed a book in so long. Whoops. Well it WAS that time of the semester where I’m doing ALL THE THINGS, and every time I had some free time, I wasn’t motivated. But that all changes TODAY. Maybe.

Review: The Astonishing Color of After

The Astonishing Color of After by Emily X. R. Pan
Publisher: Little, Brown Books
Release Date: March 20th, 2018
Source: Netgalley
Date Read: 3/14/18
480 pages

Leigh Chen Sanders is absolutely certain about one thing: When her mother died by suicide, she turned into a bird.

Leigh, who is half Asian and half white, travels to Taiwan to meet her maternal grandparents for the first time. There, she is determined to find her mother, the bird. In her search, she winds up chasing after ghosts, uncovering family secrets, and forging a new relationship with her grandparents. And as she grieves, she must try to reconcile the fact that on the same day she kissed her best friend and longtime secret crush, Axel, her mother was taking her own life.

Alternating between real and magic, past and present, friendship and romance, hope and despair, The Astonishing Color of After is a novel about finding oneself through family history, art, grief, and love.

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I received this ARC in exchange for an honest review. Quotes taken from ARC may or may not be in the published edition.

Hello there, long time no see. I’m back from…wherever I’ve been, to review The Astonishing Color of After, an amazing debut that I have had the wonderful pleasure of reading. Seriously, it’s only March and I’ve found a 2018 favorite. And I mean, yes, though it is probably due to the fact that I related so much to the biracial main character, there was just so much more to it than that.

The Pros & Cons of Binge Reading

I'm currently in the process of reading an entire series that I read the first book of exactly 3 years ago. And this is actually pretty huge for me because I almost never, NEVER binge read or watch ANYTHING. Yet this year, I have done both of those things! Which is why I will now list out the pros and the cons of binge reading.

No Review Required (Mermurder & Other Horribleness)

I have read a bunch of books this year, and I have been meaning to write a "No Review Required" post for a while now. But that just didn't end up happening, and before I knew it, there were many potential books I could post about. So, I decided to just narrow it down to the ones I actually can talk about (kinda).

Review: The Boy on the Bridge

The Boy on the Bridge by M. R. Carey
The Girl With All the Gifts #2
Publisher: Orbit
Release Date: May 2nd, 2017
Source: Macmillan
Date Read: 2/16/18 to 2/19/18
392 pages

Once upon a time, in a land blighted by terror, there was a very clever boy.

The people thought the boy could save them, so they opened their gates and sent him out into the world.

To where the monsters lived.

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I received this ARC in exchange for an honest review. Quotes taken from ARC may or may not be in the published edition.

The Boy on the Bridge is the sequel, or really the companion novel, of the The Girl With All The Gifts. The latter is now a movie and has won a whole bunch of awards, hence the reason behind my low expectations for the follow-up. Yet in the end, I was surprised by how much I enjoyed The Boy on the Bridge.

An Innocent Life #23: February Recap

I feel like this month just came and went so quickly, yet at the same time I AM TIRED. This year is just going by, and I am not ready haha.

How To Deal With The Pressures Of Social Media

One of the reasons why I'm such a huge procrastinator stems from the fact that I am constantly on social media. Specifically, Twitter. It's gotten to the point where I continue to refresh my feed even after only a couple of minutes, knowing that there will be NOTHING new.

This seems to be a problem for a bunch of people as well, so I've decided to share some tips that I use when I want to remain focused on reading or writing, or just dealing with social media in general. (Thanks to Shannon for contributing some of these!)