Where's My Cow?

Where's My Cow? by Terry Pratchett
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I have been waiting to read this since I first read about this book in one of the Discworld books. Forgive me for not remembering which one, it's been a couple years, and there are many. The fact that this exists at all warms my heart.

At first I thought it was going to be the same story as what is in the main book. I was wrong. I would recommend reading some of the Discworld books before reading this. All lot of Discworld characters are mentioned, and it's fun to know who they are instead of just reading about them with no reference point.

I loved the illustrations. They were definitely different than what I had in my head for how I thought the characters looked, but they were beautiful. For some of the characters, I had had a hard time picturing them, so having that image in front of me gave my brain the push it needed.

All in all, highly enjoyable.

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Fourth Wing

Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

My real rating is somewhere between 2.5 and 2.75. I can't decide on a final number. I rounded up because Goodreads doesn't give you the option to do partial stars.

This book reminds me of Twilight, in the way that everyone seems to have become obsessed with it. We are all focusing on the story and deciding that that is amazing while ignoring the poor writing. There is enough swearing in this book to fill at least two or three chapters. It was so prolific, and all I could think was that swearing is the language of the uneducated. Is that the truth? No. But it didn't help lift the writing up. It was like the author couldn't think of any other way to express emotion besides throwing an F-bomb repeatedly. It made all of the characters flat. If they had any lines where they showed emotion, they showed it the same way, F-bombs and other swear words. I don't swear, so I may just be hyper sensitive to it, but I don't think that is it. I truly think that there are indescribably high amount of swear words in this book. I get it, it's New Adult and not YA. In theory, the author is writing for adults and not kids, but that doesn't mean common decency just flies out the window. Also, with all the publicity this book has received, there is no way teens are not reading this, which terrifies me.

Past the swearing comes my second problem, which I feel is an even bigger problem because I know teens are reading this. There are EXTREMELY graphic sex scenes. I was listening to the audio book, and had to switch over to the kindle version because my mother was in the next room and the sex scenes were headed towards 10 minutes in length or longer. This book is high fantasy. There were plenty of ways to put that the characters were together without turning it into complete porn.

I'm so frustrated with this book. The premise was great. It could have been everything everyone is saying it is. Take away the unnecessary parts mentioned above, give it some better writing, and it would have been great. The actual storyline was interesting, and the ending made me almost want to read the sequel that is coming out, almost. I just know that there will be more of the same in the next book, and I can't deal with that. Let's just say, I'm disappointed.

Content warning: Graphic sex, Language, Murder

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The Summer I Turned Pretty

The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

I know this is YA, but it is written as juvenile. The story fell flat and the characters felt one-dimensional. I think things may have been better if so much of the rambling had been taken out. The book was unnecessarily long. Nothing happened for most of it.

I found Belly annoying. She spends so much of the book complaining and fighting with everyone. For being the main character, there doesn't seem to be much about her to like. Of course, there doesn't seem to be much to like about any of the characters. How are all of these relationships happening with these personalities?

I don't see the allure of this book. How is it so popular? There is no way I would be able to stand watching the show. This has been enough of The Summer I Turned Pretty for me.

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The Great Pencil Quest: Another Wallace the Brave Adventure

The Great Pencil Quest: Another Wallace the Brave Adventure by Will Henry
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Honestly, I love Wallace the Brave, so I would have been shocked if I had not loved this collection of comics. Sterling is still my number one favorite character, but I am a little sad. I feel like he grew up a little in this book, and I want him to stay the crazy little kid he's always been. I'm not ready for him to sound reasonable. Of course, there was more of him in this volume than in the previous four, so I can't really complain.

Will Henry is great with keeping continuity not only between one comic to the next, but from one year to the next. I have the other four volumes, and while the how changes, the annual events that happen in the summer, still happen. It's fun to see how things will play out.

The characters are all lovable, from the main character Wallace all the way down to the farmer who was around for a couple pages. If you want a quick fun read that will make you smile, this is something I would recommend.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

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Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine

Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I am absolutely in love with this book. Eleanor is such a complex character. She seems very one dimensional at the beginning, but slowly gains depth as more of her story comes to light. I'm still thinking about the ending and what it means in regards to what was going on in Eleanor's life throughout the novel. You know it's a great novel if you finish it and it leaves you just thinking about what happened for a while after.

At first, I was thinking Eleanor was like me, than quickly realized that is not the case. She has no sense of social norms and ends up in incredibly awkward situations almost 100% of the time. I always cheered for her when she actually understood what was going on and picked up on social cues. This changes when she meets Raymond, an IT guy at work who slowly breaks her out of the routine she has had for years.

I love the character development Eleanor has with Raymond. It is not sudden, but gradual. Since Eleanor is narrating, you get her thoughts on their first interaction, and everyone after, and you can see how her thoughts slowly change over time. She goes from total disgust to acceptance that he is not going to go away to liking the fact that he is there. He is basically her window into a completely new world that she is hesitant to enter.

I have to say, even as I write this, I'm thinking about the ending and more of it is clicking in my head. Anyway...I need to talk about Mummy, because that was a terrifying character, and she was only ever someone Eleanor talked to. She was never physically around, but she made a huge impression on Eleanor and myself. Mummy is of course Eleanor's mother, and the way she talks to Eleanor helps explain why Eleanor is the way she is. Let's just say, I'm glad the character is rarely heard from.

Of course, all in all, an absolutely lovely book. I've been struggling to find good books lately, and this one was so refreshing.

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Red Rising

Red Rising by Pierce Brown
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I think I'm going to be in the minority and say that I really was not a fan of this book. It seems like this is a five star read for most people, but it just wasn't for me. Maybe I'm just not a sci-fi person. I think a big part was the language. I know, it's an adult book, Pierce Brown can use whatever language he so chooses, but it was a lot. For me, it took away from the actual story and just made me cringe.

I had heard it referred to as Hunger Games in space, and the book mentions capture the flag. Mix those together, and that's kind of what it is. The Hunger Games version of capture the flag...in space.

The premise is interesting, it just missed the mark for me. Darrow wasn't a character I really saw myself rooting for. I was never worried about what would happen to him, because he was written to be perfection personified basically. How can anything happen to someone like that? Even when bad things happened, it seemed more like a throw away to say, "See, he has hardships, too." Honestly, I found none of the characters really endearing. Is this just what a sci-fi novel is like? Do I just need to read more of the genre to realize how good this book is?

Content Warnings: Language, Murder

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