Sylvs (NOVELty Reads)’s Comments (group member since May 08, 2019)

Sylvs (NOVELty Reads)’s comments from the Between The Pages group.

Hey guys!

For the month of March we are hosting our very first Between the Pages readathon! This challenge will run from the 1st of March to the 31st. The aim is to read as many books as you possibly can and you get bonus points if you complete the prompts listed below. All participants will be sorted into randomly generated groups with the aim of reading the most out of all the teams. Sign ups close on the 28th of February so get in quick! The teams will be announced on the 1st of March

The prompts are divided into 6 categories. By completing one of the prompts you will earn your group 2 points. Completing the whole prompt category would earn you 12 points.

PROMPTS

PROMPT CATEGORY 1: FAMILY
Friends to Lovers
Asexual Main Character
Middle Grade
I Read Recs (A Book Recommended to You)
LoveOzYA Book
YA Book of Your Choice

PROMPT CATEGORY 2: FLOWER
Fave Book
LGBTQ+ Book
Own Voices Book
Werewolves Galore (read a YA Paranormal book)
Enemies to Lovers
Romance Book

PROMPT CATEGORY 3: WINTER
Winter Is Coming (Read a YA Fantasy Book)
International Read (Read a YA Book Set In Another Country)
New Author (Read a YA book by a Debut Author)
Terrifying Reads (Read a YA Horror book)
Extraterrestrial (YA Book set in Space)
Racially Diverse Main Character

PROMPT CATEGORY 4: SUMMER
Standalone
Unexpected Ending
M/M Romance (Male/Male romance)
Main Character with Magical Powers
Ethical... Or Not? (Morally Grey Main Character)
Random Animal On The Cover

PROMPT CATEGORY 5: KINDLE
Killer On the Loose (Read a YA Mystery Book)
Insta-Worthy (A Book With A Cover You Love)
Not Human Main Character
Dark (A Book with the Word "Dark" in the Title
Language Barrier (A translated YA book)
Every Star In The World (A YA book you rated 5 Stars)

PROMPT CATEGORY 6: FOREST
Fairytale Retelling
Otherworldly Setting
Read a book with a Green Cover
Emotional Read
Sequel
Travel (Characters go from One place to Another)

The books can be from any genre and can be however long. We strongly encourage you to read YA books though since this is a YA book club. Only books finished in March will count. If you started the book in February but finished it in March that's completely valid too. You can earn points for the team through page points and other factors listed below.

PAGE POINTS

1-99 pages = 1 Point
100-199 pages = 2 Points
200-299 pages = 3 Points
300-399 pages = 4 Points
400-499 pages = 5 Points
500-599 pages = 6 Points
600-699 pages = 7 Points
700+ pages = 8 Points

EXTRA POINTS

1 BOTM (From Between the Pages Book Club) = 5 Points
2 BOTM (From Between the Pages Book Club) = 10 Points
Reviews = 5 Points (Reviews must be longer than 2 sentences)
Completed Prompt = 2 Points
Completed Prompt Category = 12 Points
Buddy Read = 5 Points

Sign ups close on the 28th of February so be quick! Comment your name down below if you're interested and we will group you into a team :) We really hope you will get involved and have fun!

Zitong wrote: "Sylvs (NOVELty Reads) wrote: "Zitong wrote: "Sylvs (NOVELty Reads) wrote: "Zitong wrote: "Ok, well I found that to be a pretty fun start. It’s always good to read something just feels sort of norma..."

Glad to hear! ;P

Zitong wrote: "Sylvs (NOVELty Reads) wrote: "Yes! I also thought the character development was excellent! It was the highlight of the book for me that made me rate it around a 4 stars :)"

Glad we are agreeing on..."

Haha same!

Zitong wrote: "Sylvs (NOVELty Reads) wrote: "Zitong wrote: "Ok, well I found that to be a pretty fun start. It’s always good to read something just feels sort of normal set in the actual world. I also like that i..."

True like I wanted to know Ruby's thoughts and feelings towards Saoirse but it never was really touched on. It was hinted at and then it felt like something you should've known as you read on. I just wanted more substance to their relationship in general, I guess

Yes! I also thought the character development was excellent! It was the highlight of the book for me that made me rate it around a 4 stars :)

Zitong wrote: "Ok, well I found that to be a pretty fun start. It’s always good to read something just feels sort of normal set in the actual world. I also like that it’s set in Ireland, I haven’t read very many ..."

I'm glad you are enjoying it! I also liked the dementia aspect. With the romance though, I felt like it was a bit too rushed and forced especially at the start. I didn't notice it when I was reading but as I looked back on it and read some reviews that expressed what I couldn't about the romance, I then realised that it annoyed me more than I realised at the start.

So I finally finished this book and I have a lot of thoughts. I basically highlighted everything in my review which encapsulates everything I felt or thought whilst reading The Falling In Love Montage:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Now onto my thoughts about Part 3 which might have spoilers.

(view spoiler)[ I really liked how Saoirse and Beth might've finally made friends! I liked how that happened and how they went dress shopping together where we potentially met the greatest character in this whole book: Barb. God I love Barb. She was the greatest with her unapologetic discussion of relationships and marriage. We also had Morris who we met in a cooking course as part of the falling in love montage. He and Barb would be perfect for each other lets just say that ;)

I also liked how Saoirse opened up more with Ruby and how she realised that she wanted something serious in the first place. There was a lot of character development with those scenes and I was really impressed and proud of her for that. I also liked her friendship development with Oliver and his role in "The Grand Gesture" I would love a book just based on Oliver and Saoirse's friendship XD (hide spoiler)]

What did you think of the book? Write down in the comments below :)

(view spoiler)[I must admit I kinda like where the book is heading now. I wasn't sure at the start with all the angst, partying etc but now that they are opening up to each other and the falling in love montage is a go, I'm finding that I am really getting a feel for the characters. At the moment I'm thinking it's a 4 star read but things could change for better or worse.

We got some insight just now into Ruby's home life and her relationship with her parents and Oliver's family. Her brother Noah is in hospital getting surgery for his cerebral palsy but he seems like a cool kid that I'll like to see sometime in the next few chapters. Saoirse still hasn't opened up about her mum but I feel like it's baby steps and I like how we are seeing the slow development of her trust in Ruby and in sharing details of her life with her. I understand why Saoirse is protecting herself. She had breakups with her friend and girlfriend because of oversharing and so she just wants to make sure it doesn't happen again. I can sort of see myself in Saoirse's character and can see why she would feel a sort of jealousy in wanting to become someone as carefree and whimsical as Ruby. I hope she gets what she wants or becomes happy with herself in the next chapters :)

I also like Oliver and Saoirse's friendship and how they are also taking to each other now more than they did before. I love their banter and how they watch romcoms together despite being "enemies". I also like how Saoirse is getting closer to Beth and is (sort of) willing to give her a chance. (hide spoiler)]

(view spoiler)[Finally got through the first part of this book. I must admit, I didn't like it at the start. Don't ask me why but I think it's partly because of just how quickly everything happened between Saoirse and Ruby. It happened within 40 pages of them meeting that they actually kissed at a party when they were drunk. I kind of didn't like the angsty drinking part of the book because I'm not into reading about that sort of thing and I was just waiting until the falling in love/cheesy romcom aspect came in with the book.

I also liked the discussion over early onset Dementia which I didn't expect to see in the book. I liked how we got shown how it impacted the way Saoirse lived her personal and romantic life. I can't wait to see what happens next with the falling in love montage. I want to see Saoirse's reaction to it. (hide spoiler)]

(view spoiler)[ ummm excuse me WHAT?!?!

I'm really caught up in my feels after that ending especially since I have grown an attachment to Silas. I guess that's what happens when I go against his warnings of "Don't get emotionally attached to me." I did and now he's gone into the abyss which is almost the same as dying in a book.

But with that ending we don't know how or where Silas is do we? And with that epilogue ending we still don't know and there is a lot to be unpacked that hasn't been answered yet. Honestly, where is a sequel when you need it?

Plot wise though, I'm happy with how the plot got resolved even though it was like a kick in the guts. (hide spoiler)]

Haha thanks Zitong :)

(view spoiler)[ I really am enjoying this book! Admittedly there are so many typical YA fantasy tropes but I like the story, the characters, the plot and the magic system too.

I am beginning to understand why everyone is so in love with Nathaniel Thorn. He's a really good love interest... maybe even more so than Cardan from the Cruel Prince who gives off the exact same vibes. Nathaniel seems to really care for Elisabeth and their relationship looks really healthy. I'm not trying to sound like a fake relationship therapist here but you can see the chemistry and you can see that the two work well together :) I'm so glad their relationship is kicking off now.

I also liked how we got to see more of Silas and we got more insight into the demon world/how demons interact in Austermeer. It was during a scene I didn't particularly like because it involved Ashcroft (who might as well be the most cliched bad guy ever but y'know, you can't get everything). Ashcroft as a villain is the biggest let down I reckon. He just seems like that stereotypical villain who wants to control the world. I want more depth to it! The best villains are ones who have good intentions but poor execution. Hopefully we get it later on! I'm in the last part of the book now! (hide spoiler)]

(view spoiler)[ Wow because I've just read a lot of chapters just now, I'm sorry if my analysis from chapters 8-14 get jumbled up in this chapter discussion!

Anyways I'm really getting invested in the story now and Elisabeth is now not as annoying as I previously found her. I'm glad she found her way back to Nathaniel and that their friendship (if you can even call it that. It's more like they found themselves in the same situation as one another and worked together to overcome that first battle together) is developing. I'm also happy that it's a very slow burn kind of romance which is always pleasing to read because in a lot of books it's like the main character discovers they like the love interest and then wastes no time in getting together with them. To say I'm glad this didn't happen is an understatement.

We also got more insight into Nathaniel himself towards the end where Silas reveals about Nathaniel's dreams and why he killed the poor boy's dad. As it turns out, it's more grotesque than you might've been lead to believe. All this occurs when we discover more about Silas who, being a demon, definitely has a dark side. And whilst I sat here getting all fluffy around him, he made no mistake in reminding us that he is a demon and to never forget that despite where his loyalties might lie.

I'm really looking forward to where the rest of the book will be going since Elisabeth now is on a quest and is working to get a dangerous book from the Palace library. (hide spoiler)]

(view spoiler)[ Okay so following off of chapter 7, we see Elisabeth with Nathaniel and we get more of his character dynamic. We also see how his status as a powerful sorcerer works within the Thorn household as well as how sorcerers have demons working alongside them as their helper or servant (in a way). Although Silas has been shown to be a nice and good character, I'm still kind of sceptical about him. Is he working for Ashcroft who is the main villain in the series or am I looking too much into this? I have so many thoughts and so many questions since a lot of action occurred in these few chapters.

There was an action scene featuring a lot of lightning, carriage rides and monsters. It took me a while to get my footing here since I stopped halfway through the beginning of the fight. It took me a while actually, after everything to get into the flow of things since the writing style is pretty unique and the pacing is faster than what I'm used to.

In terms of characterisation, I found that after those action scenes, we got a good feel for Elisabeth's character. She tended to discover things way after we did which triggered me a lot. For example, we knew the whole time that Nathaniel was teasing her about the salamanders and the whole "sorcerers bathe in virgin blood" thing but Elisabeth only figured it out way later which annoyed me so much. It got worse though when Elisabeth realised Silas was a demon when we already knew which made me question how she didn't tie the ends together sooner.

Hopefully she gets better in the later chapters. I'm on chapter 18 right now and I think her character is improving as she's not being as naive as she has been in chapters 8-14 (hide spoiler)]

Share your thoughts here on Chapters 25-38 of The Falling in Love Montage

Share your thoughts here on Chapters 13-24 of The Falling in Love Montage

Share your thoughts here on Chapters 1-12 of The Falling in Love Montage

(view spoiler)[Okay so I just got up to chapter 7 and so far I'm enjoying the book. Admittedly it took me a while to get into it with the writing style and pacing. A lot has so far happened and I didn't expect to meet the love interest, Nathaniel Thorn so soon and so quickly. So far I really like him but then again, I feel like I don't know enough about him yet to say that.

Plot wise, I reckon Elisabeth could not have been blamed if only Warden Finch was not such a demon (both metaphorically and (potentially) literally (I have strong feelings that he is actually a sorcerer in disguise and he was the one to release the grimoire). If he actually looked at the evidence he would find Elisabeth to be innocent yet his prejudices against her forbid him from seeing truth. There is literally no reason so far as to justify his hatred which leads me to believe in the aforementioned theory. Who knows? At this point I might be correct.

(hide spoiler)]

Does anyone know any books that are set in the 1950's and is YA? I need something maybe a bit romcom-my and overall amazing.

If they have cultural musical/film icons that'll be even better

And yes, I know I'm being very specific here but if you know anything please tell me!

riv_reads wrote: "I took a test about personality type about a year ago and I just redid it then... I got the same result so it must be pretty consistent

INFJ-T - makes some sense :)"

Nice :) Looks like we have lots of diversity with the MBTI in this group ;)