Rebecca Crunden's Blog, page 22
March 21, 2023
Book Review: This Great Wilderness (2022)
This Great Wilderness by Eva Seyler
This Great Wilderness is so not what I was expecting, and I mean that as a compliment. It is an adventure story, but it’s an adventure story contained within three different character studies, of three very different characters. The vibe of the story reminds me a bit of My Family and Other Animals, although I’m not sure why other than Raymond’s love of animals. But it has that old feel to it, like there’s history and sunshine and nature actually contain...
March 20, 2023
Review Roundup
Witch they call me
Ill-mannered I call them
Claw of dragon, powdered newt
Kriss-krossing hexes here and there
Engaging with spirits, I do
Dare you tango with me, human?
I had no idea what acrostic poetry was before this. The first letters all spell down a word. Very cool! A lovely little collection of acrostic poems from McConnell!
Betty the Yeti Hates Spaghetti by Mandy R. Marx, María Antonella Fant
A very cute little tale about moving to a new city, tryin...
March 18, 2023
Book Review: Scorn and Sorrow (2022)
Scorn and Sorrow (Adventures of a Villain-Leaning Humanoid #3) by Jamie Jackson
He couldn’t understand being Vengeance. It’s not always avenging the innocents; vengeance is in the petty, the selfish, the jealous. It’s in the rage and fury that comes from being side-lined, abandoned, disregarded. It sounds like it should be associated with justice, but they’re nothing alike. Often, you’ll find vengeance in the small things, the ones that seem inconsequential.
What a wonderful follow up ...
March 17, 2023
Book Review: Torment and Tarnish (2021)
Torment and Tarnish (Adventures of a Villain-Leaning Humanoid #2) by Jamie Jackson
Sand, the sea and an olive grove. The feel of grass prickling my feet. Bark, rough under my fingers and the palms of my hands […] A message on the wind.
I read Fear and Fury a while back, but my TBR is long long long, so it’s taken me a little while to get to book two but even still I sank very quickly back into Meg and Greg’s world with this book. The case was interesting and everything moves along at a...
March 11, 2023
Book Review: Dragons Don’t Celebrate Passover (2023)
Dragons Don’t Celebrate Passover by Michelle Franklin
Dragons themselves are not kosher … The dragons are happy about this, because this means they get invited round for dinner instead of being dinner.
THIS IS SO CUTE AND WHOLESOMEEEEEEEEEEE. OH MY GOSH I JUST ADORE THIS SERIES OF CUTE LITTLE HOLIDAY BOOKS!!
Dragon fire is great for making matza. Matza* is unleavened bread, which may or may not be origin of cardboard.
This is just such a sweet, lovely, adorable, funny educational...
Book Review: The Assassin and the Pirate Lord (2012)
The Assassin and the Pirate Lord (Throne of Glass, #0.1) by Sarah J. Maas
Three assassins had been found murdered by pirate hands, and Arobynn had sent her to be his personal dagger—to extract retribution, preferably the gold kind, for what their deaths would cost the Assassins’ Guild.
This is the first Throne of Glass book I’ve read, but to be honest I don’t know that I loved it enough to continue. I found the opening quite interesting, but the more I read, the more I found Celaena to...
Book Review: What Hedgehog Likes Best: Rhymes for children (2023)
What Hedgehog Likes Best: Rhymes for children by Erwin Moser
The owl is too awake to dream.
This line resonates, ha!
What Hedgehog Likes Best is such a lovely little book filled with colourful illustrations of animals and all the things they do and places they go. The rhymes are fun and it’s a fast and cute read!
Thank you Netgalley for the review copy.
Book Review: Books Aren’t For Bears (2023)
Books Aren’t for Bears by Mark Barry and Katy Halford
GENERAL SPOILER WARNING
But one day, Bear found something that changed everything. He found … a book.
Oh my gosh, this is such a sweet little story about a bear who finds a book and loves it so much that he learns to read and then travels to the big city to find more books. I do wish there had been a few more pages where the Bear was able to respond to the teacher and the bookshop owner who said that bookshops and books weren’t f...
Book Review: The Priory of the Orange Tree (2019)
The Priory of the Orange Tree (The Roots of Chaos, #1) by Samantha Shannon
SPOILER WARNING
‘Even as Cleolind wondered at the miracle, the orange tree yielded its fruit. When she ate of it, she was healed – not only healed but changed. She could hear the whispers in the earth. The dance of the wind. She was reborn as a living flame.’
This was my second attempt at cracking open this tome, but I managed to get through two books of The Wheel of Time this year, so why not give Priory ano...
February 28, 2023
Book Review: A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder (2019)
A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder (A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder, #1) by Holly Jackson
I didn’t quite know how I would feel about this story going into it. I haven’t read too many mysteries (although I do watch a lot of them) but I’m so, so glad I picked this one up! I loved Pip and Ravi from the first introduction. They’re smart characters with their wits about them and their determination to solve Andie’s murder and prove Sal’s innocence was great. I was on Pip and Ravi’s side from minute ...
