Saturday, May 11, 2019

Short and Simple Reviews:The Hazel Wood, Greta and the Goblin King, & Trouble Never Sleeps

This is a place for books that I didn't fully review.
Maybe I listed my likes and dislikes, had a little short paragraph, or a few sentences to convey my feelings on the book, but whatever the "review" is, all of them are short and simple. (hence the clever name)
The following three "reviews" are a little bit older. I wrote them last year during my hiatus so they were never posted onto the blog. Until today that is.




The Hazel Wood (The Hazel Wood, #1)
Seventeen-year-old Alice and her mother have spent most of Alice’s life on the road, always a step ahead of the uncanny bad luck biting at their heels. But when Alice’s grandmother, the reclusive author of a cult-classic book of pitch-dark fairy tales, dies alone on her estate, the Hazel Wood, Alice learns how bad her luck can really get: her mother is stolen away―by a figure who claims to come from the Hinterland, the cruel supernatural world where her grandmother's stories are set. Alice's only lead is the message her mother left behind: “Stay away from the Hazel Wood.”

Alice has long steered clear of her grandmother’s cultish fans. But now she has no choice but to ally with classmate Ellery Finch, a Hinterland superfan who may have his own reasons for wanting to help her. To retrieve her mother, Alice must venture first to the Hazel Wood, then into the world where her grandmother's tales began―and where she might find out how her own story went so wrong.

  Goodreads / Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Book Depository


Review
I'm really torn on my opinion of this book. I struggled to get into this book because it took gosh darn forever to get to the point. I was almost 200 pages into the book and it still felt like I was in the exposition. I also was not the biggest fan of Alice's character. The last half of this book, when we are finally in the fairytale world, was fantastic, but I really think that parts of the beginning could have been paced better because I was very tempted to give up on the book by how much the plot was dragging. Again, I loved the last half of the book, that was action-packed and unique. I wanted more of THAT. This really felt like a stand-alone so I'm curious what the next book is about. Maybe it's a companion book. 

3 Stars
Meaning: I liked it




23990329

While trying to save her brother from the witch three years ago, Greta was thrown into the fire herself, falling through a portal to a dangerous world where humans are the enemy, and every ogre, goblin, and ghoul has a dark side that comes out with the full moon. To survive, 17-year-old Greta has hidden her humanity and taken the job of bounty hunter--and she's good at what she does. So good, she's caught the attention of Mylena's young Goblin King, the darkly enticing Isaac, who invades her dreams and undermines her determination to escape. But Greta's not the only one looking to get out of Mylena. The full moon is mere days away, and an ancient evil being knows she's the key to opening the portal. If Greta fails, she and the boys she finds stranded in the woods will die. If she succeeds, no world will be safe from what follows her back . . .

  

  Goodreads / Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Book Depository



Review
The book was fine in itself. What caused me to lower the rating was the romance, which I was not a fan of at all. Not only was there a love triangle, but the main love interest was super creepy and possessive and I was very against the "romantic" encounters with him in this book. 
I will likely not be continuing the series because I get the feeling that this guy will become the major love interest in further books and I will not be able to stand it.

I hereby give this book
2.5 Stars
Meaning: I almost liked it, but not quite.



Trouble Never Sleeps (Trouble, #3)


Happily Ever After gets a serious makeover in this swoony, non-stop, thrill-ride of a conclusion to the Trouble Is a Friend of Mine trilogy

No one makes getting into trouble look as good as Philip Digby—and he looks good doing it. Now that he's back in town, he's plunged Zoe (and their Scooby Gang of wealthy frenemy Sloane, nerd-tastic genius Felix, and aw-shucks-handsome Henry) back into the deep end on the hunt for his kidnapped sister. He's got a lead, but it involves doing a deal with the scion of an alarmingly powerful family, not to mention committing some light treason. Zoe and Digby are officially together now, and she's definitely up for whatever closure this new caper might offer, even though this mystery will come with a twist neither expected.

With acerbic banter, steamy chemistry, and no small amount of sarcasm, Zoe and Digby are the will-they-or-won't-they, charismatic crime solving couple you've been waiting for.


Review
Aw, man! Stupid me finished the book and thought "Oh joy! There will be more books!" Only to come onto Goodreads and see that this is the conclusion to the trilogy (and, yes, I know that is in the synopsis. As a rule I never read the synopsis of a book right before reading. There be spoilers!). Anyway, now I'm sad because this is the end of the series and I still have questions, but I enjoyed this series immensely. This is one of the very few mystery series that actually made me laugh-out-loud. Even though this is the last book in this series, I very much hope the author will write more books, even if they don't feature Digby and Zoe. I know they're still up to shenanigans somewhere, even if I'm not reading their story.
4 Stars
Meaning: I really liked this book!


No comments :

Post a Comment