Hoohoo, friends.
Time for some new mini reviews. While I’ve read mostly great books during the last few months, June is more of an up and down. Let’s head right into my opinions, shall we?
My Lady Jane ★★★★★
Author: Brodi Ashton, Cynthia Hand, Jodi Meadows | Publisher: HarperTeen | Pages: 512 (Hardcover) | Published: 7th June, 2016
What’s it about?
The king of England, Edward VI, is ill and dying. He want Lady Jane Grey to follow him on the throne, and all male heirs after her. A man to marry her off to is found fast: Gifford Dudley, the son of the king’s advisor. Jane is not happy about this at all, especially when it turns out that Gifford can transform himself into a horse. But soon there are more pressing problems: the king disappears, his sister Mary plots to claim the throne and Jane is forced to be queen.
My opinion:
This book was hilarious. I enjoyed every single minute of it. It is based on English history and set between the reigns of Henry VIII/Edward VI and Elizabeth I. And while history takes its curse, the authors made a few modifications. Instead of religions, there are people who can transform into animals, and those who can not. And they hate each other. And while the groups act like the actual religious groups, it is ten times more fun to read, since they transform accidentally or do stupid things. And the characters were written so perfectly funny, loveable. Their relationships were so cute and friendly and just… I love them. The three narrators each have their own voice, the reader recognizes immediately which characters tells this chapter. To be honest, I haven’t heard about Lady Jane Grey before but this book made me read up on her (and some other English history as well). Even though this book is not entirely correct, you can still learn some stuff from it, while enjoying yourself immensely.
The Glittering Court ★★
Author: Richelle Mead | Publisher: Razorbill | Published: 28th March, 2017
What’s it about?
The family of the Countess of Rothford sinks into poverty. To prevent this, the countess is supposed to marry a wealthy man. Rather than that, she takes on another identity and joins the Glittering Court, an establishment that gives poor girls the chance at a rich man and a better life on another continent. While everything seems to be easy at the beginning, the countess soon realizes, that not everything is at it seems and that her problems only start when she starts kissing Cedric, the son of the Glittering Court’s owner. And when a rather powerful man takes and interest in her.
My opinion:
I picked this up because I liked Richelle Mead’s previous books. But I guess my expectations were too high. I was not a fan of the characters. The protagonist is not that likeable, she is a rather arrogant aristocrat, even though she goes through a huge character development. It was very exhausting for me to read from her POV since I could not get into the character much. To be honest, none of the characters really spoke to me, except for Mira probably who is a friend of the protagonist. The story wasn’t that interesting either. I usually don’t compare books to each other, but if you’ve read the Selection by Kiera Cass: this was more or less the same, but with more than one winner and more men to marry. There was just as much drama. Seriously, all the drama that could have happened, happened of course. All the drama happened and for me, it was too much drama. Sorry, but I couldn’t get into this book at all.
The Brightsiders ★★★★
Author: Jen Wilde | Publisher: Swoon Reads | Pages: 279 (Hardcover) | Published: May 22nd, 2018
What’s it about?
Emmy fucked up. After she causes a scandal, she has to get out of sight and move back in with her parents. Whose house she left half a year before because they don’t exactly get a prize for best parents in the world. Luckily, Emmy still has her friends and her band members who help her immensely when she tries to fix everything. There is only one little problem: the huge crush on Alfie, who is not only her friend, but a fellow member in her band, The Brightsiders.
My opinion:
I really did enjoy the Brightsiders. Emmy is a wonderful, real and authentic character. But then so are all the characters. They are described in such an amazing, fully human way. Emmy is smart, she is traumatized from her abusive, not-caring parents, but nevertheless she enjoys life at its fullest. I loved reading her story. She is bisexual, and the rest of her inner friendship circle is queer as well. And I liked this so much! There are lesbians, genderqueer people, bisexuals, gays. There are black and brown people, people with mixed heritage. Basically, the book is wonderfully diverse. I enjoyed this a lot. While I fell in love with the characters, the story was okay. Nothing new really or special.
