Review: Mirror, Mirror

Mirror, Mirror by Jen Calonita
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Many thanks to NetGalley, Disney Book Group and Jen Calonita for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are 100% my own and independent of receiving an advance copy.


If you know the story of Snow White, then you know what to expect in this retell of the fairy tale, There are a few tweaks to the original Disney tale that some are calling a modern twist, but it didn’t go far enough for me. I know I am in the minority as most people loved the book. I expected more. If you are calling this series “A Twisted Tale” then I want some real twists. If not twists, then explore the characters so that they have depth and range. There are so many ways this could have gone, but it really is almost exactly like the original.

I found the character of Snow White to be as bland as every other version where she is sunshine personified, never has a bad thought, birds flock to her and is so sickly sweet, I can’t stand it. Really!!! We are still dealing with this trope? You are left alone, not allowed to speak to anyone for years and nothing?? The Evil Queen is still evil, but why? This was a missed opportunity. There is some background that sort of explains her path to the castle but I felt it could have gone much further into the psyche of why she became The Evil Queen. Having the prince bite the apple wasn’t enough of a twist for because it came right at the end and it didn’t reshape the story in any way. The prince was still charming and rescued Snow and Snow was still Snow.

I did read that someone said this was for middle grade children. I went in thinking this was a YA novel. Maybe I expected too much. This is also a Disney novel and this story does mostly follow the movie version of the fairy tale. I’m not sure how much Disney is going to flip it on its head. Still, I had hoped for more.


View all my reviews

Review: 365 Ways to Beat Stress

365 Ways to Beat Stress by Adam Gordon
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Many thanks to NetGalley, Watkins Publishing and Adam Gordon for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are 100% my own and independent of receiving an advance copy.

This is a much better selection than the 365 Ways for Peace that I recently reviewed. I found that these selections were much more useful and more meaningful ways to decrease stress in your life. These are not quotations or selections from famous thinkers but rather concrete ideas on what you can do tomorrow to affect change. In the introduction, Gordon states that he thought it impossible that there could be 365 ways to destress, but now he realizes there are hundreds of ways. I found that an odd statement, but yes, I agree, there are so many small things you can do that really can have a profound impact. Obviously some are easier than others, some easier for some people and harder for others, some short term and some long term, but I found lots that I could implement into my life.

There are lots of groupings from how to start your day, things you can do at work, dealing with emotions, past traumas, ways to destress your body. How to put ease your mind, create a calm home, ideas to become more creative and how to end your day. Some are obvious and I have heard many times before in other sources and some are good reminders. Some of the ones I loved are: imagine six impossible things before breakfast, wake up as if you have amnesia and can’t remember any of your past mistakes, etc., think how you can give joy to at least one person today. Some are quiet simple like breath (a yoga breath) ten times before you get out of bed, open the window and take a breath of fresh air, walk a pretty route. Some are very practical like be mindful of money, or choose one day a week to not spend any money. So overall not a bad selection, I think there’s something for everyone, but nothing earth shattering or groundbreaking.

View all my reviews

Review: The Mother-in-Law

The Mother-in-Law by Sally Hepworth
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Many thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press and Sally Hepworth for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. My opinions are 100% my own and independent of receiving an advance copy.

Lucy’s mother died when she was young and although she had a loving father, she missed those things that only a mother could provide. When she fell in love with Ollie, she had high expectations for a “best friends” relationship with his mother. She was hoping Diana would fill in and become the mother she never had. As you can surmise, that was not the case. But when Diana dies, the police soon discover that her suicide might just be a cover for murder. Who wanted Diana dead?

I have the amazing fortune of having not one but two mother-in-laws. I know, right? #soblessed. Ya, maybe not so much. Honestly, I have a wonderful stepmother-in-law and am really grateful for her. She has been wonderful and has gone above and beyond for me and my kids. So part of me was hoping for this read to have a vicious mother-in-law, one who I could get on board hating and having her murdered, perhaps, by her daughter-in-law. Nothing like living vicariously through characters in a book! I wanted witty repartee, a husband caught in the middle, maybe a sly woman that whispers nasty comments when no one is looking, driving the daughter-in-law slowly crazy. Ya, that didn’t happen.

Told in alternating perspectives between Lucy and Diana, it switches from past to present. If you don’t want a huge spoiler, don’t read the names of the chapters - ucchh what a way to ruin the ending. Lucy is soft, sweet and insecure, and realistically, no one could have filled her naive expectations. Diana, by contrast, is tough and comes from the school of hard knocks. She has no respect for Lucy because Lucy can’t do anything herself. But this really isn’t a battle between mother and daughter-in-laws. Diana treats everyone equally, including her own children. She is who she is. She doesn’t want to give unfair advantages to her children, she wants them to be strong and stand on their own two feet. The same goes for Lucy. Diana feels Lucy has a privileged life, being a stay at home mother and Lucy can’t get it together. But she isn’t any meaner toward her than anyone else. They are both at fault for not communicating with each other, accepting each other for who they are and not one of them will utter so much as a “Thank You”. But as far as a nightmare of a mother-in-law, Diana doesn’t even rate. I have read, seen and experienced worse.

For me, the characters were awful. I couldn’t relate to any of them. What a bunch of weak, one dimensional, cardboard cutouts. Diana’s husband, Tom, is like the fool who just wants to be liked by everyone, constantly going behind his wife’s back and not caring how his actions affect anyone else’s relationships. Ollie, Lucy’s husband, can’t be honest with his own wife and is so stupid he doesn’t even know when someone is stealing from him. I could go on, but I’d rather not. I didn’t like anybody that much that I care to rehash them here. The mystery part of the novel didn’t work for me either. There was no suspense, no build up, no wondering who did it, it just was and then it was over. So a bunch of spoiled brats, who didn’t inherit a bunch of money they were waiting for and then it was over. At least it was a short novel.
Sorry, not for me.

View all my reviews

Review: A Boy and His Dog at the End of the World

A Boy and His Dog at the End of the World by C.A. Fletcher
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Many Thanks to NetGalley, Orbit Books and C.A. Fletcher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. My opinions are 100% my own and independent of receiving an advance copy.

There is a note from C.A. Fletcher that says, and I’m paraphrasing, that is would be a kindness to other readers that the discoveries you make while you follow Griz’s journey remain a secret between us, meaning the reader and Fletcher. Who am I to go against an author’s wishes, and after reading, I understand why he is making this request. I almost think this is a disservice to categorize it as science fiction/fantasy genre, because there are readers, yes I know hard to believe, that will discount a book simply because they don’t “enjoy” that genre. I am telling you, this book is a must read, for everyone, no matter what genre you think you read. It is about love, family, loyalty, doing the right thing even when it is hard and all sorts of other things that make it so much more than a stereotypical science fiction/fantasy novel.

If you haven’t gathered, I loved everything about this book. I really found it compelling, suspenseful, touching, endearing and everything else you might want in a novel. It has adventure and heart. I think kids of all ages will enjoy this but there are scary parts, so sensitive kids and the young should wait to read this one. There are so many ways I could use this in a classroom setting, I would pick this as a classroom novel and do a whole unit on this. It is so rich. There are so many themes to explore, and it brings up so many questions, I would love to do this with a classroom of kids and hear their ideas. Griz is a noble character with great qualities and equally great flaws. The pacing of the book is tense and exciting. The story is one that will stay with me and I will be sorry to say goodbye to the characters.

Do yourself a favour - child, young adult, or adult and pick this one up.

View all my reviews

Review: The Devouring Gray

The Devouring Gray by Christine Lynn Herman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Many thanks to NetGalley, Disney Book Group and Christine Lynn Herman for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. My opinions are 100% my own and independent of receiving an advance copy.

Are you ready for what’s in The Gray? It is haunting and horrifying. It sent shivers down my spine and made me pull up the covers a little tighter and I loved every second of it. I read this all in one shot - I couldn’t put it down and I enjoyed every second of it.

The writing is gorgeous, evocative, descriptive. The contrast between the forest that surrounds the town, the green of the trees, the smell of the leaves, compared to the gray where there is an absence of sound, breath and colour. Don’t forget those bodies turned inside out and upside down. We never get a clear picture of the monster, but its personality is just outside of our grasp. So frightening for Violet who had no frame of reference for what was happening, thrown into the gray. I love that the outsider, Violet, is the moral compass. She can see so clearly what is wrong because of her fresh perspective. The others have been bogged down by history and responsibility. Their grooves already dug out for them. Such a clear picture emerges of the town of Four Paths, off the beaten path, a place where everyone knows its secrets, where strangers aren’t welcome. You can feel the smallness of the town, the expectations and judgement palpable. Imagine a high school where there aren’t enough seniors to make a class and kids who have been together their whole lives. Yet, Herman introduces the fluidity of their sexuality without it being a thing if you are bisexual, gay or straight. The four teens who have to right the wrongs of their parents, fix the mistakes of the past and forge their own way forward. Can they? Or will they, too, find themselves seduced by power.

There is so much in this book, great relationships between characters, magical realism, and a good old fashioned scary story with things that go bump in the night. Bonus were the amazing illustrations at the beginning of each chapter!

View all my reviews

Review: The Astral Traveler's Daughter

The Astral Traveler's Daughter by K.C. Archer
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Many thanks to NetGalley, Simon & Schuster and K.C. Archer for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are 100% my own and independent of receiving an advance copy.

This sequel picks up right where the first book left off. Teddy and her friends are beginning their second year at the Whitfield Institute for psychics. This year they are learning how to use their unique abilities to intuit events from an inanimate object. Teddy was secretly given her mother’s necklace from Yates, whom she doesn’t trust. In Teddy’s private lessons, Clint has been teaching her to astral plane which allows her to leave her body and observe things that have happened in the past. Teddy is still plagued by not knowing whether or not her mother set off a bomb in New York City many years ago. She just can’t believe that her mother was a willing participant in the vigilante group the Patriot Corps. Her best friend Jillian has fallen in love with a cargo-shorts wearing boy who Teddy can’t stand. Jillian has been taking all kinds of risks for her new boyfriend and his animal rights activism. Things have been heating up between Teddy and Pyro and not just because he controls fire! She has been put on special assignment to protect Miles Whitfield, the grandson of Hollis Whitfield. While astral planing she discovers that Whitfield has been developing a drug to control psychics. Is the school just a front? Who, from the school is involved? What move will the Patriot Corps try next? How is this related to her mother and Sector 3? Teddy is hiding way too many secrets from everyone and if she isn’t careful, she will be putting everything on the line to get the answers she needs.

First off, I think that if you haven’t read the first one in this series, you might have a hard time with this one. I read the first one a while ago and even I had a hard time getting into it, because I couldn’t remember all the details from the first book. There are a number of different stories going on this time around, but Archer does a great job of connecting them all together. I never felt lost or overwhelmed. Nick is out of the picture and there is a small romance with Pyro, but I thought that more could have been done with that storyline. Okay, I need the romance. It keeps things spicy! The friend group is really fractured this time, so I didn’t feel the camaraderie the same way as in the first book. That detracted a bit for me. I really like all the psychic stuff and what they were learning in school. Less time could have been spent on their summer and more focus on the school would have made it more interesting for me. I wasn’t ready to give that part up just yet. I really liked the addition of the new character Miles and that storyline. I’m not sure how much character development happened in this book, compared to the first.

I loved the first book. I really liked the second book. Looking forward to seeing what happens in the next one in the series!

View all my reviews

Review: 365 Ways to Find Peace

365 Ways to Find Peace by Marcus Braybrooke
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Many thanks to NetGalley, Watkins Publishing and Marcus Braybrooke for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review. My opinions are 100% my own and independent of receiving an advance copy.

This book contains 365 sayings from around the globe, from all different sources. You have Buddha to Bhagavad Gita, the bible, the Torah and the Koran. From Eastern philosophies and Indian philosophies to ancient philosophers like Dante, Aristotle and Plato. Poems and sayings from other folk who we have come to see as wise like Thich Nhat Hanh and Anne Frank. These contributions include poems, sayings, -isms and short stories, all around the idea of peace.

This is the kind of book that I usually gravitate towards. Something that I can pick up and read at my leisure, either a few snippets or whole sections. Something I can come back to over and over again. With all of these wise sources you would think that there would be so many little gems. Many of the sources I know and have read their works before. Most I admired, not all, but still there is so much wisdom to pull from. Unfortunately, I personally did not relate to most of what was in this book. I didn’t find the quotes inspiring, thoughtful, meditative or peaceful. Some confused me and I just kept thinking with all the wise things these people have said, this is what you chose?

Sorry, this is a pass for me.

View all my reviews

Review: The Ghost Manuscript

The Ghost Manuscript by Kris Frieswick
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Many thanks to NetGalley, Post Hill Press and Kris Frieswick for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are 100% my own and independent of receiving an advance copy.

An ancient manuscript that hold the secrets to King Arthur’s tomb? A ghost of the monk who fought by King Arthur’s side and laid him to rest, leading you to a secret location? A monk who appears because you are sniffing the ancient manuscript and it contains spores that bring on hallucinations? How about a handsome, sexy man to help you on your quest. Get ready for an rousing read that takes you on the adventure to find the tomb of King Arthur. This story reminded me of a mash-up between The DaVinci Code and an Indiana Jones type story. You have clues from an ancient manuscript, the promise of ancient artifacts, the race to get there while being chased by bad guys while you decipher the clues to find the treasure. There’s lots of globe hopping, suspense and drama with a little romance in the mix. It is highly entertaining with characters who come to life off the page.

Carys works for an esteemed auction house and is tasked with cataloguing a client’s library. Many of the items in the library were ones she had sourced out herself. But when the old man himself tells her of this secret manuscript that leads to the tomb of King Arthur, Carys can’t help but get caught up in the solving the mystery. She isn’t the only one on the hunt, someone is trying to kill her. The clues lead her to her home country, Wales, where she enlists the help of a handsome local, Dafyyd. Oh, and get this, she loves to sniff the old manuscript, which gives her a sort of high and she begins to see a dead monk, who speaks to her in old Latin and helps lead her from clue to clue. The journey is exciting, the action drives the story at a fast pace but it is the relationships between the characters that give the story depth and keeps you invested in what happens.

I really enjoyed this read. There were so many different elements that could have been overwhelming or too scattered but somehow Frieswick managed to keep it cohesive and make it all work. The characters were well drawn and had interesting back stories that had me rooting for them. The romance fit very well within the storyline and spiced things up just enough. I loved reading about Wales and found the land very captivating. The whodunit part had a nice twist at the end. My only uncomfortable part was when it went back to the States and dealt with Native Americans. You’ll understand what I mean when you get to that part. Overall a good solid read.

View all my reviews