Wilbur's reaction to everything: concern. Photo by Kate Ota 2024 One type of writing resource book I love is a reference I can go back to time and time again. The Emotion Thesaurus by Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi is one such book (series!) that I keep next to me whenever I edit. However, I'm always on the lookout for more! I found 1,000 Character Reactions from Head to Toe by Valerie Howard while browsing Amazon and received it as a gift over Christmas.
Overview At just 88 pages, this book is a quick read. What you get is basically a thesaurus of body parts in order from head to toe (plus some overall things like skin). Each entry contains actions or sensations associated with that part of the body. Sometimes the action is linked to an emotion, such as cheeks burning with embarrassment. After each short list (which is never longer than a page plus a few lines) there are empty lines for you to write your own entries for that body part. My Experience I felt like each entry's list was too short. I also wanted more of them connected to a cause, like embarrassment, since a reaction is happening because something is causing it to happen. Some body parts were also conspicuously absent, so don't expect this to help you write a romantic encounter, for example. I think the empty lines are a good idea, because plenty of reactions aren't present, but it also made it look like the author didn't do enough of the research for you. Is It Worth It? This book is $5 for a paperback on Amazon and $0.99 on Kindle, though the empty lines for you to write on become useless on the Kindle. If you're trying to add more reactions and emotions to your writing, I think The Emotion Thesaurus is a better option, but if your budget can't accommodate a $17.99 Emotion Thesaurus at the moment, this book could be a good substitute or even just an entry into the concepts if the larger book is too intimidating. If your budget can handle either book, go with the more robust Emotion Thesaurus. Have you used 1,000 Character Reactions from Head to Toe? Did it help you improve your writing? Let's discuss in the comments!
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The four books (and novella) in the ACOTAR series as of April 2024 ACOTAR, or A Court of Thorns and Roses, is a series by Sarah J Maas with a huge following. As of this blog post, the series isn't complete yet, so to be clear this review covers A Court of Thorns and Roses, A Court of Mist and Fury, A Court of Wings and Ruin, A Court of Frost and Starlight, and A Court of Silver Flames.
What is the series about? (SPOILER FREE) This series (mostly) follows Feyre Archeron, who lives in a world where a wall separates the human realm from the seven Fae courts. (On other continents there are other situations, but we're focusing on her island, Prythian). Feyre and her family (sisters Nesta and Elain and their dad) live destitute after their father's trading business fell apart years ago. Feyre hunts to feed the family and no one else does literally anything. However, after Feyre kills someone she believes is a creature, but is actually a Fae, she's forced into a deal: leave the human world behind and live at a Fae court, or die. The series follows her adventures in the Fae world. The first book is a loose retelling of Beauty and the Beast but the rest of the series moves away from that model. Does it live up to the hype? This series was consistently sold to me as fairy smut. I will say there is more smut as the series goes on (looking at Silver Flames here) but the first several books had only a couple of explicit sex scenes each. Less than Fourth Wing, honestly. However, I really enjoyed the twists and the surprises in the plot. My favorite book was A Court of Mist and Fury, although the first act of Wings an Ruin is a close second. I could list some complaints, but they are spoilery. Suffice to say, I disliked some characters and even though it seems most other readers warmed up to them, I didn't. My least favorite of the series might be Silver Flames because of that problem. So, does it live up to the hype? Yes, I think so. When the next book comes out, I will read it right away. I will say that if the first book doesn't do it for you, give the second one a chance, it changes so much. This series is for you if you like Fae, Romantasy, and are Team Xaden from Fourth Wing. It's not for you if you're looking for sweet/non-explicit romance, dislike Fae/fairies, or if you're not in the headspace to read about starvation, torture, or abusive relationships. Have you read the ACOTAR series? What do you hope the next book will be about? Let's discuss in the comments! Wilbur enjoying some sun, while the folks in Maisie Dobbs had to deal with London weather. Photo by Kate Ota 2024 After a short hiatus, I am back with a review of Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear. The first book came out in 2003, and now it's an eighteen book series. It won several awards in the category of best first novel (Agatha Award 2003 and Macavity Award 2004) and also several nominations in the same vein. It was recommended to me by a friend and I picked it up at a second hand bookstore.
Maisie Dobbs, the titular character, is a female detective starting her own agency in the years after WWI in London. As a WWI nurse, a former detective's apprentice, and a college-educated woman, she's certainly seasoned and ready for the job. However, when her first mystery comes along, she can't help but keep digging into the past, finding a connection to those closest to her. This book reminded me a lot of the early seasons of Downton Abbey, since Maisie grew up as a "downstairs" girl. I thought the mystery and the look at the immediate effects of WWI on veterans and citizens was an interesting angle that I hadn't seen before. My largest problem with the book was that the mystery was interrupted by a 150 page flashback to Maisie's childhood/youth. It was information that I felt could have been sprinkled in more delicately over time. The entire flashback, I just wanted to get back to the present. Then in the present, the mystery was solved, and Maisie kept looking into it for what seemed like no reason to me. Without understanding why she was doing it, I couldn't root for her to succeed--because I didn't know what success would look like. Eventually, what she was digging into tied back to people she knew, but it took a lot of time to get there. If I was a less patient reader, I don't think I would have gotten that far. This book is for you if you like WWI books, Downton Abbey, and female detectives. It's not for you if you read mysteries only to solve the mystery, if you dislike historical settings or WWI in particular, or if you are not in the headspace to read about PTSD, major facial wounds, or death in war. Have you read Maisie Dobbs or the rest of her series? Which book is the best out of all eighteen? Let's discuss in the comments! Two cats, both alike in dignity. Photo by Kate Ota 2024 One for My Enemy is written by Olivie Blake, the author of the best selling Atlas Six trilogy. It was originally self published, and has since be re-published by Tor after the success of Atlas Six (also pubbed by Tor). I read the Tor pubbed version, which may have differences from the original self-pubbed version. I was given the book as a Christmas present from my brother-in-law.
One for the Enemy follows two witch families in NYC, the Fedorov brothers and their father and the Antonov sisters and their mother. Written with Romeo and Juliet as a very forward theme, the book follows the eldest Antonov sister Marya and her history of romance with the eldest Fedorov brother, as well as the youngest of each house, Sasha and Lev, and their romance. When the rivalry between the families crosses from messing with business to murder, each member of the family must ask themselves how they got here, and what they are willing to sacrifice for family. Since this wasn't a 1:1 R&J retelling, it did surprise me and remain unpredictable for the most part, which I appreciated. The illustrations were also interesting and very well done. It also seemed like the author set up a complicated world that she could revisit someday. One of my largest complaints was a problem I had with The Bear and the Nightingale: everyone had too many nicknames. And by everyone I do mean everyone. Sometimes more than one nickname. It turned an already large cast (there were seven Antonov sisters) and made it feel three times as large. I also am not an insta-love trope fan, which is a problem I have with R&J itself, so not a surprise that it became a downside for me in an R&J retelling. This book is for you if you enjoy Romeo and Juliet, crime family drama ala The Green Bone saga, or if you're looking for urban romantasy. It's not for you if you don't want to read about insta-love, violence resulting in murder, or are not in the headspace to read about drug dealing. Have you read One for My Enemy? What about Atlas Six? Let's discuss in the comments. Wilbur has no regrets, so he couldn't relate to the main character. Photo by Kate Ota 2024. The Midnight Library by Matt Haig has been brought up to me by several people: my mom, my sister, and one of my friends, who gave me the book as a gift. It seemed like the universe really wanted me to read it, so I finally did. This book was on many best seller lists and major book club lists as well as winning a Goodreads Choice Award for best fiction of 2020.
Content warning: a character commits suicide, a cat dies The Midnight Library follows Nora, a British 35 year old who has just been fired from her dead end job at a music store, whose cat has just died, and who basically is friendless and abandoned by her only remaining family. She ends up committing suicide and wakes in a sort of purgatory, a library. The librarian, her childhood librarian, explains the rules: every book in the library is a life she lived differently and she can ask to see any of them. Most are lives where she didn't do one of the regrets listed in her book of regrets, but some are just very small tweaks to reality. Nora explores these other lives to find one worth living, though many are not as happy as they seem. As time runs out and she moves closer to true death, she must decide what matters most to a life worth living. As many have said before, this book is very It's a Wonderful Life, but offering more alternate realities than could have fit into a movie. Though the final choice is predictable, it's interesting to see how many different versions of Nora's life the author was able to conjure. I found it interesting when she ran into other people in her situation, and that not everyone's midnight library was a library at all. It felt like a deep character study of Nora, which could be helpful to recreate if you as a writer are struggling with character. On the downside, Nora's cat at one point died of the same thing that killed my late cat, so that left me in tears for a while. I was also frustrated by how bad Nora was at fitting in to the lives she stepped into--she never got better at it! I guess improv isn't for everyone, but it's a useful life skill. This book is for you if you love It's a Wonderful Life, multiverses (but make it contemporary fiction), or if you yourself are struggling with regrets. This book is not for you if you are not in the headspace to read about suicide/suicidal ideation or dead cats (especially if a heart defect was involved), or if you're looking for more fantasy/sci-fi high-stakes multiverse hopping. Have you read The Midnight Library? Stealing this question from my mom, who asked her book club: what would your midnight library be? Let's discuss in the comments! I woke them up for this picture so please excuse their grumpy expressions. Photo by Kate Ota 2024 Sword Catcher is the first adult fantasy from Cassandra Clare, of Shadowhunter fame. I enjoy that series from her because of how she can manipulate reader emotions about characters. She's also written the only love triangle that I consider a real triangle (Will/Jem/Tessa). Suffice to say, I think she's a master at character and was excited to see a new world from her.
Sword Catcher focuses on Kel, the titular sword catcher aka body double for Prince Conor. He steps in where there could be danger and his only job is to die for the prince, if necessary. With a little magic and a lot of coincidence, they look alike. When not on duty, Kel poses as the prince's cousin. Kel discovers a new crime lord has sprung up in the capital city who has eyes on taking down the prince (who is basically a regent due to his father's mental health) and Kel makes some unlikely friends in trying to protect the prince. One such unlikely connection is Lin, the only female physician from the local Ashkar people. Ashkar people are pretty much analogous to Jewish people at certain times in history--restricted movement, specific clothing requirements, no inter-marriage--and are the only people in the world who can use magic. Lin wishes only to save her bff/surrogate sister Mariam from a chronic illness that's about to run its course. But when Lin discovers a magical object that may be the key to saving Mariam, the problem becomes how to make it work, and why it seems to work only when she's called to the palace for some emergency healing. The world was very well-built. I understood what was going on, even when only shown a portion of the world. The characters' desires were clear and their actions always made sense in serving those wants. I liked the clear analogy to Jewish populations in the past with the Ashkar people and the LGBT+ friendly world. This kept it from feeling like just another fantasy Europe. There was a lot of diversity in characters from other places and thoughtfully developed languages. Unfortunately, there was so much worldbuilding that I started skimming over country names and character names if I didn't think they'd be relevant. Some names were also frustratingly similar, like Falconet and Fausten. The set up of the book also took too long, though I suspect this is because this book is clearly book 1 in a series, so the set up needed to set up the whole series and not just a stand alone. Still, it took a while for things to get moving. This book is for you if you like Cassandra Clare's characters and writing voice, if you want to read a book with fantasy-Jewish elements, and if you want to start a series with some serious worldbuilding. It's not for you if you want a book that can stand alone, if you need a fast pace from the start, or if you prefer low/urban/contemporary fantasy to high/epic/secondary-world fantasy. Have you read Sword Catcher? What did you think? Did you expect two characters to get together who haven't yet? (I did!) Let's discuss in the comments! Violeta by Isabel Allende was given to me for Christmas this year. I managed to squeeze it into January, making it my sixth read that month. I knew nothing about the book beforehand, so I went in with no expectations.
Violeta is an adult historical fiction following Violeta through her life from the 1920s onward in Chile. It included events American audiences would find familiar, like WWII, and less familiar, like the military coup in Chile. It was written as if it was a giant letter from Violeta to Camilo, whose relationship to Violeta becomes clear as the story progresses. I enjoyed learning about 20th century Chile from this book, because I knew very little about that. Something that surprised me was that despite the distance and different histories, a lot of familiar events acted like major milestones in Violeta’s life. I liked the different events that I'd not heard about before, because I worried initially that this book would be too similar to stories of 20th century Americans that I’ve read before. Something harder for me was the writing style. It had a lot more summary than scene, which matched the epistolary-like structure, but still didn’t work for me. It made the events feel too distant from me, and I had trouble understanding some of Violeta’s choices because I was so far removed from the moment. She also had awful taste in men. Warning: this book contains both physical and psychological abuse. This book is for you if you are looking for female-lead historical fiction, if you want to learn about 20th century Chile, or if you want fiction with the flavor of memoir. It’s not for you if you’re looking to read deeply about specific events or real people in Chile’s history, or if you’re not in the headspace to read about an abusive relationship, drug use, or pregnancy complications. Have you read Violeta? What about Isabel Allende’s other books? Let’s discuss in the comments! This series is almost as tall as my tallest cat. It's definitely a work out to haul this series around. Photo by Kate Ota 2024 Last year I reviewed Sarah J. Maas's hit Throne of Glass, the first in an adult epic fantasy series, and asked if it lived up to all the hype. I decided it was, and bought the rest of the series. In January, I finally finished the last book of the series, Kingdom of Ash, a nearly 1000 page behemoth. I even did the famous tandem read of Empire of Storms and Tower of Dawn. So, is all that worth the hype?
What's the series about? (SPOILER FREE) As a refresher, Throne of Glass followed Celaena Sardothien, famed assassin, as she tried to win the king's tournament to be the King's Champion, aka assassin on call. Along the way she got some troubling information from a ghost and discovered the king was not all he seemed to be. The rest of the series follows the same three characters: Prince Dorian, Captain Chaol Westfall, and Celaena Sardothien (by many names) through the adventures that ensue from seeds planted in book 1. More POVs are added over time for characters that have become beloved by fans. The books are: Assassin's Blade (prequel, recommended to read 3rd), Throne of Glass, Crown of Midnight, Heir of Fire, Queen of Shadows, Empire of Storms, Tower of Dawn, and Kingdom of Ash. Does It live up to the hype? My impression of the series was that it was a fun read. Celaena kept me on my toes and always guessing, and I loved whenever her plots and plans were revealed both to the audience and those around her. She was intensely clever not just powerful, and she never leaned to far into the trope I hate, "I'm not like other girls," because she was super girly when she had the chances. The romances were hit or miss for me because some I rooted for and sometimes I was yelling at the book about what a terrible guy someone was and why his romantic interest absolutely needed to dump him. My complaints are few. Even though I predicted a lot of the overall things that would happen, the twists along the way kept me going, just like in the first book. I didn't like Tower of Dawn much, because it focused on Chaol, who I grew to dislike. However, the tandem read improved that experience, see the next section. Does this series live up to the hype? Yes. Well written, interesting, surprising, strong female characters without the internalized misogyny, and a dash of romance. 10/10 will probably re-read someday! What's the tandem read and is that worth the struggle? The tandem read is when you read some chapters of Empire of Storms and then switch to Tower of Dawn, and then back again. I followed the guide on the Throne of Glass wiki, which I think worked well. Pros: You're not stuck with Chaol for 600 pages, you get others too. It feels more like the other books, where the main trio are all represented by POVs, even if they're not all together. You add tension to the read because if you follow the guide, certain elements align so you only know some information about the off-screen characters, but you maintain mystery. Cons: It takes a while to flag all the chapters before you start, and you may accidentally get spoiled by the first line of some chapters--especially in Tower of Dawn! I also somehow got off, and ended by reading two sections in a row of Tower of Dawn because I'd already finished Empire of Storms. Oops! And of course, if you read in public, you now have to carry around two books instead of one, and they're beefy. Overall, I felt like the tandem read was worth the struggle. I liked the added tension and the way it kept things fresh and moving forward. If you're curious about the experience, I recommend giving it a try! This series is for you if you like monarchy drama in fantasy worlds, a mix between hard and soft magic systems, a strong female main character, and fae/fairies. This series is not for you if you dislike fae/fairies, are not in the headspace for on-page violence or war (she's an assassin!), dislike soft magic systems, or dislike on-page sex scenes (they're not as descriptive as the scenes in Fourth Wing, but you're getting more than you'd get from a YA series, for example). Have you read the Throne of Glass series? Crescent City 3, also from SJM, just dropped so I may do another "does it live up to the hype?" post soon! Which of her series have you read, and which is your favorite? Let's discuss in the comments. The cover is giving me Carmen San Diego as a vampire, which is not a bad thing. I needed to squeeze one more indie book in before the end of the year to hit my 2023 goals, and thankfully I found the novella We're All Monsters Here by Amy Marsden. At 99 ebook pages, I was able to finish it in one sitting. I'm so glad this is the book I picked up!
We're All Monsters Here is like Glass Onion (aka Knives Out 2) but with a vampire named Anna. She manipulated a corporate big wig into planning an exclusive executive getaway and inviting Anna, whose app he recently bought. It's basically a vampiric buffet. Anna's weekend even improves when she has a fling with one of the assistants, Saira. However, vampire hunters show up and Anna must navigate carefully to avoid being taken out. This novella had a great voice and premise. Despite killing people, I really liked Anna--I mean, eat the rich, right? While I often complain novellas are too short, I thought the length of this one was just right. The first half was a little too smooth for me. If nothing goes wrong for the characters, I start feeling like the story is too simple and maybe predictable. When things went downhill for Anna, it was much more fun. That being said, the voice and premise kept me going in the first half. We're All Monsters Here is for you if you enjoyed Glass Onion, if you're looking for a sapphic urban fantasy, or if you want a quick read. It's not for you if your favorite part of fantasy is extensive worldbuilding, if you are looking for lots of twists and turns, or if you aren't able to handle blood and gore at the moment. Have you read We're All Monsters Here? What was your favorite novella of 2023? Let's discuss in the comments! The cover is interesting, but I would prefer Loretta's hammer on the cover, not a scythe. Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah has been on my radar since January, when I read a list of the most anticipated 2023 debuts. Adjei-Brenyah has a short story collection out as well, but Chain-Gang was his first novel. It hit shelves in May 2023 and I've seen it on some lists of top reads for the year. I dove in with high expectations.
Chain-Gang All-Stars is like if you mixed the showmanship of pro wrestling, the reality TV/punishment concept of the Hunger Games, and America's broken prison system. Prisoners with greater than 25 year punishments are allowed to enroll in a program where they battle (mostly 1 v 1) to the death. After three years of battles, they can go free (called high freed). If they are killed, that's called low freed. The main character, Loretta Thurwar, is weeks away from freedom, and you follow her, her lover and fellow inmate Staxxx, and occasionally some other characters both inside and outside the system. This book was very well done. Though it incorporated many POVs, some only seen once or twice, it did a great job at denoting POV changes with separate scenes and didn't head hop. I was kept on the edge of my seat, never knowing for sure who would survive any of the battles. Even without the threat of death, the POVs outside the chain-gang were tense and added so much to the understanding of how this system was allowed to continue and how the world reacted to it. The worldbuilding and character development were very well done. It's hard to find a downside for me. If you're not a fan of violence, this will be a tough read for you. This book is for you if you are a fan of the "punishments on TV" concept from The Hunger Games, if you're a prison abolitionist, or if you want to study how doing a multi-POV book can really work. It's not for you if you're not a fan of reading about violence, if you are not in the headspace to read about abusers or rapists (although one character was convicted after killing her rapist, so there's that to balance the scale), or if you're going to be homophobic about the central romance. Have you read Chain-Gang All-Stars? What did you think about that final scene? Let's discuss in the comments! |
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