Day: October 22, 2018

Tag: The Awesome Blogger Award

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I just want to send a big thank you to Caidyn at BW Reviews for nominating me for the Awesome Blogger Award! This is a new one for me and it really means a lot. If you’re not already following BW Reviews, please go check it out! Caidyn posts so many great book reviews (and also tags and other things).

RULES

  • Thank the person who nominated you.
  • Tag it under #awesomebloggeraward
  • Answer the questions asked.
  • Nominate at least five awesome bloggers.
  • Give your nominees ten questions.
  • Let your nominees know that they’ve been nominated.

The award was created by Maggie @ Dreaming of Guatemala who stated, “This is an award for the absolutely wonderful writers all across the blogging world. They have beautiful blogs, are kind and lovely, and always find a way to add happiness and laughter to the lives of their readers. That is what truly defines an awesome blogger.”

10 questions from Caidyn:

1. What’s your favorite music genre?
I just had this conversation with one of the nurses I work with! She asked me what the correct term is for the kind of music I listen to and I said, “Oh, I don’t even know, maybe indie pop?” Honestly, though, I’m not very picky.

2. Do you like horror movies? If so, what’s your favorite? If not, why not?
Hahaha, no. I do not watch horror movies. I don’t like being scared and I have to hold my cat hostage to even watch a trailer. I have watched exactly one scary movie in the last ten years or so. It was a little over a week ago and it was The Witch and I think I survived only because it was a buddy watch. (Is that the proper term for it? I’m not even sure.)

3. What is your dream job?
All I want in life is to work in publishing.

4. Do you write? If so, what’s a work in progress? If not, what would you like to see written?
All I write is blog posts. For what I want to see written, I guess anything featuring my favorite tropes. I love friends-to-lovers, especially when they’ve been friends forever. I also love enemies-to-lovers, especially when there’s a lot of snarky (but not mean!!) banter.

5. Is there a completed series you wish there was more of?
Actually… not really. I don’t like it when series continue on forever and ever with no end in sight, so I would rather be left wanting a little bit more.

6. What’s a weird talent/ability you have?
My weirdest ability is probably remembering the name and face of pretty much everybody I’ve met in my entire life. A lot of people find it creepy, but what can I do? Sorry my memory is good.

7. What genre do you want to read more of?
I don’t read a ton of mysteries, but I’ve really enjoyed the few that I’ve read this year. I would like to read some more!

8. What’s your favorite food?
I’ve answered this question a lot and yelled about how much I love hot stone bibimbap (and I really do love it) but you know what else I love? TACOS.

9. What’s a book that was published in 2018 and didn’t like?
What a question. I’ve written so many snarky reviews this year!! Here are three books published in 2018 that I didn’t like.

my review my review my review

10. What is your favorite blog post that you’ve written?
I think I have three favorite blog posts.

My nominees:

10 questions from me:

  1. What’s your most anticipated book for 2019?
  2. What’s your favorite season of the year and why?
  3. What’s the last song you listened to?
  4. What’s the best adaptation you’ve seen this year?
  5. What’s one food that you could never live without?
  6. If you could pick one food that you’d never have to eat again, what would it be?
  7. Which author (living or dead) would you most like to meet?
  8. What’s the last book you recommended to someone?
  9. What’s the last book that someone recommended to you?
  10. What’s your favorite blog post that you’ve written?

Book review: The Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy by Mackenzi Lee

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The Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy by Mackenzi Lee
Rating: ★★★☆☆
Links: Amazon • TBD • Goodreads
Publication Date: October 2, 2018
Source: Purchased

A year after an accidentally whirlwind grand tour with her brother Monty, Felicity Montague has returned to England with two goals in mind—avoid the marriage proposal of a lovestruck suitor from Edinburgh and enroll in medical school. However, her intellect and passion will never be enough in the eyes of the administrators, who see men as the sole guardians of science.

But then a window of opportunity opens—a doctor she idolizes is marrying an old friend of hers in Germany. Felicity believes if she could meet this man he could change her future, but she has no money of her own to make the trip. Luckily, a mysterious young woman is willing to pay Felicity’s way, so long as she’s allowed to travel with Felicity disguised as her maid.

In spite of her suspicions, Felicity agrees, but once the girl’s true motives are revealed, Felicity becomes part of a perilous quest that leads them from the German countryside to the promenades of Zurich to secrets lurking beneath the Atlantic.

It seems like every book I was anticipating was released in October this year. First there was Vengeful, then there was What If It’s Us, and now there’s The Lady’s Guide. I loved The Gentleman’s Guide when I read it last year and was so excited when I heard that Felicity was getting her own book in the series. (So excited that I actually preordered it, although that was mostly just so that I could get the novella as well.)

I absolutely adored the first half of this book. I loved every character, from Felicity to Johanna to Sim. I loved getting to see Monty and Percy again. I loved how snarky Felicity could be. When she turns down a marriage proposal because she has “so much to read?” Actually me.

But the second half of the book? I’m not sure what happened. It really took a turn and I just couldn’t go for it. This is definitely spoiler territory, so…

Click to expand!

The biggest problem I had with the second half was the introduction of the sea dragons. If this had been a fantasy novel, it would be one thing. But it wasn’t. It’s historical fiction about a girl in the 18th century who wants to be a doctor. I thought that the dragons really took away from the story.

Another problem for me personally (that wouldn’t necessarily be a problem for everybody) is that toward the end of the book, Felicity starts speaking in a much more modern way than she had been at the beginning. One example is her rolling her eyes and saying, “That sounds fake” when she learns about fuzzy cacti. It just didn’t feel like her voice anymore and it pulled me out of the story.

Was The Lady’s Guide an enjoyable book? Yes. But it didn’t really live up to my expectations and I found myself putting it down all the time to go do other things. I liked the characters, I liked the representation, and a lot of the writing was funny and sassy and wonderful, but overall… I just didn’t love this one as much as I’d expected.

#mm18: new or old

Have you read The Lady’s Guide? Is it on your TBR?
Let’s talk in the comments!

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