FRIDAY FINDS showcases the most interesting books I’ve encountered during the last week and have added to my neverending TBR list on Goodreads. Below a selection of my newest additions; click on the book descriptions to go to its Goodreads page! 😀
My finds:
Title: The Rest Of Us Just Live Here
Author: Patrick Ness
Genre: YA, Fantasy, Paranormal
First published: August 27th 2015
Publisher: Walker Books
Finished reading: February 4th 2017
Pages: 343
“Because sometimes there are problems bigger than this week’s end of the world and sometimes you just have to find the extraordinary in your ordinary life.”
I’ve been wanting to pick up another Patrick Ness novel ever since I finished The Knife Of Never Letting Go, but somehow it took me 18 months to finally do so. I’ve heard a lot of people say The Rest Of Us Just Live Here isn’t his strongest work, and now I’ve read it I probably agree. But hey, he sure sets the quality bar to an Olympic high with his other books! I was really looking forward to this one and maybe my own expectations were simply too high, but I wasn’t as blown away as I thought I would be. But like I said: he might just be a victim of his own success… The Rest Of Us Just Live Here wasn’t a bad story and I enjoyed reading the prose as always. I do have to say I struggled with the chapter introductions in the beginning (mostly because I couldn’t connect them to the actual chapters), but that might just be explained by the fact I wasn’t in the mood for fantasy. This story is kind of a contemporary/paranormal/urban fantasy story and I liked the mix of reality and fictional elements. It was interesting to read about the group of friends trying to live their lives as crazy stuff was happening around them; that’s probably the true charm of this story. It did take me a lot longer than expected to finish it though…
Weird, dangerous things are happening, but that doesn’t mean the group of friends have to do anything about it. That’s up to the Chosen Ones. The ones that are supposed are fight zombies, soul-eating ghosts, bloodsucking vampires or whatever new is happening at the moment. But somehow the group of friends end up getting involved in the newest situation anyway. What are those blue lights exactly? And are they in danger?
No, this book is by no means a bad read. I’ve just been spoiled by the Chaos Walking series, that’s all. It took me a while to warm up to The Rest Of Us Just Live Here and its characters, and that might just be the reason it took me longer than planned to finish reading it as well. The relation between the chapter introductions and the rest of the story was a bit confusing at the beginning… I think I might reread the introductions alone some day to see if I enjoy them better as a ‘separate novella’. All in all this one might just be the best book to start with if you haven’t read Patrick Ness‘ books yet; that way things will only get better!
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WWW WEDNESDAYS is a weekly meme hosted by Sam @ Taking On A World Of Words and is all about answering the three questions below.
I’m currently reading one of my pending Netgalley ARCs, Little Girl Lost by Carol Wyer. I requested this one after hearing a lot of great things about it, and it definitely doesn’t disappoint so far. I’m also about to start Rebel Of the Sands by Alwyn Hamilton… I’ve been wanting to pick that one up for a while, and now I’ve been approved for the sequel there is really no excuse to pospone it any longer. 😉 I haven’t made any progress with my newest audiobook (Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison) this week though.
* The first book I was able to finish since last week is Missing by Monty Marsden. This one sounded like such an intriguing read and I still like the setting in Italy, but it took me a long time to finish it. I know this story is actually a translation, but it just all felt too chaotic and it took a long time before things started making sense. The many POV switches distracted from the main plot and had me confused which characters were actually important in the story. Claps was an interesting character though.
* I then read The Impossible Fortress by Jason Rekulak, which was actually published yesterday. It’s such a brilliant read! I completely fell in love with the writing style, plot and characters and it just such a great feel-good story full of nostalgic feelings and flashbacks to the 80s. And even though I grew up in the 90s myself, it was really easy to connect to the story anyway.
* The last book I managed to finish is The Rest Of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness. I was really looking forward to this one and maybe my expectations were just too high, but this story wasn’t as good as I thought it would be. I was actually confused by the chapter introductions for a while and didn’t get a proper feel for the story straight away. I’m not saying I didn’t like it, but it took me longer than I thought I would to finish it and frankly I expected something a little more ‘mindblowing’. Note to self: get the Chaos Walking sequels ASAP!
I’ll probably pick up my Netgalley copy of Traitor To The Throne by Alwyn Hamilton as soon as I finish the first book… Although I have been wanting to read both The Song Of Achilles by Madeline Miller and Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult for the Beat The Backlist challenge as well. My latest TBR jar pick is still The Five Stages Of Andrew Brawley by Shaun David Hutchinson…
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WWW WEDNESDAYS is a weekly meme hosted by Sam @ Taking On A World Of Words and is all about answering the three questions below.
I’m currently reading The Rest Of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness; I’ve been wanting to read another of his books for ages now and I’m glad I finally decided to pick one up. It’s not as mindblowingly good as I thought it would be so far though… I’m also reading Missing by Monty Marsden, a pending Netgalley ARC I wasn’t able to read before the publish date last December. Lastly, I’ve started a new audiobook: Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison. So far it’s without doubt interesting, although it’s going to take me some time because the file is HUGE (18+ hours…)
* The first book I was able to finish since last week is Stake-out by Lily Luchesi, a paranormal fantasy story with vampires I ended up enjoying a lot better than I thought I would given I’m normally allergic to fanged characters. There were a bunch of other supernatural creatures as well and I liked the whole clash between ‘real’ world and supernatural.
* I then finished Blink by K.L. Slater, which was BRILLIANT. I was already looking forward to this psychological thriller, but boy this one is definitely a treat. Basically I was on the edge of my seat the whole time trying to figure out what was going on, and I ended up being SO wrong about everything. Excellent prose, excellent plot and plot twists, excellent use of suspense, excellent character development… The main characters maybe are not all that likeable, but I didn’t care. I loved every single minute of this story anyway. Also the ‘paralyzed’ chapters are without doubt intriguing and add an extra original touch…
* And just when I didn’t think it could get better, I was presented with another title that would give me a book hangover. I had already heard great things about Making Faces by Amy Harmon, and that’s why I basically broke down the request button as soon as I saw it at Netgalley. All the raving reviews were right: this story is a little masterpiece. I fell in love with both the characters, writing style and plot, and this story will definitely stay with me for quite some time. Sure, some of it might be a little cheesy. But if you have characters like Fern, Bailey and Ambrose, it’s really easy to forgive the story for it. I LOVED the war veteran elements as well; it’s such an important topic and definitely deserves more attention.
* The last book I picked up on a whim after browsing my kindle: The Wrong Side Of Right by Jenn Marie Thorne. It turned out to be a bittersweet read after all the immigration chaos that is going on right now in the US IRL… I did appreciate the immigration elements in the story, but it took me a while to really connect to the main characters and it all just felt a bit too cheesy for me. Not a bad read, but maybe not exactly for me.
The first book I’m picking up next is another pending Netgalley ARC: The Impossible Fortress by Jason Rekulak, which is due to be published next week. I also want to read Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult, as well as the ARC Little Girl Lost by Carol Wyer. My newest TBR jar pick is still The Five Stages Of Andrew Brawley by Shaun David Hutchinson.
You can also find me at Goodreads. Twitter. Instagram. Bloglovin’.
TEASER TUESDAYS is a weekly book meme hosted at The Purple Booker. To participate, just open the book you are currently reading to a random page, and choose two ‘teaser’ sentences from somewhere on that page. (no spoilers!)
One of the books I’m currently reading is The Rest Of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness. I have been wanting to read another of his books for a while now, and the Beat The Backlist challenge is the perfect excuse to pick up my title. I’m not really that far into the story yet and I won’t finish it before the end of today… Hopefully before the weekend though!
My teaser (54%):
“In this moment, he’s never been more right. I’m the one here who’s least wanted. Without another word, I put the car in gear and drive off down the road.”
What are you reading right now?
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Title: The Knife Of Never Letting Go
(Chaos Walking #1)
Author: Patrick Ness
Genre: YA, Fantasy, Dystopia
First published: May 5th 2008
Finished reading: August 15th 2015
Pages: 479
“War is like a monster,” he says, almost to himself. “War is the devil. It starts and it consumes and it grows and grows and grows.” He’s looking at me now. “And otherwise normal men become monsters, too.”
I’ve had the Chaos Walking trilogy on my TBR for ages and I still don’t know why I haven’t started it sooner. The first book The Knife Of Never Letting Go is without doubt a very entertaining read. The dystopian world Patrick Ness created is quite interesting and the main character Todd and his talking dog Manchee really made the story into something special. The only real problem I had was with some of the ‘slang’ used; even after finishing the first book I still don’t have the feeling it really adds something to the story. I enjoyed Patrick Ness‘ prose in general, but I definitely struggled to understand some of the strange word alterations in the beginning (conversayshun, informayshun, direkshun etc. etc.) It just gets weird when too many of these kind of words are used together on one page. The rest of the story makes up for it though! Although the ending did have a big cliffhanger… Which is kind of frustrating since I don’t have a copy of the sequel yet.
Todd and his dog Manchee live in a dystopian world where everyone can hear everyone else’s thoughts in a never-ending stream of Noise. There are only men left in Prentisstown after all the women supposedly died of the disease, and things are getting out of control… Todd is the only ‘boy’ left; he will be the last to turn into a man on his birthday next month. Not only humans suffer from the noise; Todd can hear the thoughts of other animals including his own dog as well. One day when Todd is collecting apples, he stumbles upon an area of complete silence. Todd wants to investigate and soon finds out Prentisstown is hiding a terrible secret… And he will have to run for his life to escape his fate.
The Knife Of Never Letting Go is the very entertaining first part of a story that without doubt will become even more interesting in the sequels. I guess that in this case the main characters made this book into something special and I can’t wait to find out what happens next! I had some minor problems with the prose and the cliffhanger ending, but the rest of the story is good enough to make you forget all about it. Recommended!
WWW WEDNESDAYS is hosted by Sam at Taking On A World Of Words and is all about answering the three questions below.
I just started The Death Cure by James Dashner yesterday and I’m not too far into the story yet. I’m not sure what to think of it, but at least I will be closer to finishing one more series… I’m about halfway with Fairest by Marissa Meyer and I still stand by my comment that it’s not as good as the main series. Levana just isn’t a very likeable character! I made some progress with The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt before the read-a-thon started, but I’ve temporarily put it on hold until next Monday.
Wait a minute; I’ve read EIGHT books since last WWW?! I checked twice, but apparently I’ve been reading like a monster for the last seven days haha.
The first book I’ve read is Dangerous Girls by Abigail Haas; such a great read and the ending seriously messed with my mind!
I’ve had some start up problems with The Wrath And The Dawn by Renee Ahdieh; it took me a while to get used to the many foreign names and characters but I enjoyed it afterwards.
I had no such luck with Landline by Rainbow Rowell: I love her YA fiction, but I was seriously disappointed by Landline.
I then finally picked up The Kings Of Cool by Don Winslow, a TBR jar pick I have been posponing for the last I-don’t-know-how-many weeks. It was actually really good and I regret now waiting so long!
I’ve also read The Knife Of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness, a book that has been on my TBR for ages and I enjoyed it just as much as I’ve hoped. I really need to get a copy of the sequels soon though!
I continued with Rarity From The Hollow by Robert Eggleton, an ARC I ended up enjoying despite some problems I had with the plot, characters and prose.
I then read Never Never by Colleen Hoover and Tarryn Fisher, a quite short and entertaining read that ends with a very painful cliffhanger! I will have to read part two soon and cross my fingers it won’t have such a big cliffhanger as the first…
The last book I finished was The Martian by Andy Weir, by far one of the best reads so far this month. The main character, plot, prose… It really shows why this book was picked as one of the Goodreads Choice winners.
I will probably try to read The Kill Order by James Dashner so I can finish yet another series… Although it will probably depend on how much I enjoy The Death Cure. I’m also looking forward to both My Heart And Other Black Holes by Jasmine Warga and The Girl On The Train by Paula Hawkins. I guess it will depend on my mood which one I decide to read first. The last one on this list is my new TBR jar pick: The Geography Of You And Me by Jennifer E. Smith. I’m normally not a big fan of romance, but this title has been recommended to me various times so I will give it a try very soon.
