Here's what I read during the month of June:
Summer’s Passage- Julie Kagawa- A novelette that takes place between The Iron Queen and The Iron Knight. The best thing I can really say about this is that I was able to download it for free. Puck’s dialogue gets worse and worse with every story.
The Iron Knight- Julie Kagawa- The final book in the Iron Fey series. At least as far as I know. This book should’ve made me swoon with delight because it was Ash’s POV, Ash’s story, and he’s been the majority of the reason why I’ve stuck with this series. But I just didn’t love it. I was stuck by large bouts of “is this thing over yet?” And maybe that’s my fault because I went though the entire series like wildfire or something and I wouldn’t have gotten tired of the story if I’d only spread them out.
The House on the Corner- Andrew Leon- The mostly first person edition and the start of an intended series. So, I want to start off by saying something that is probably going to sound horrible (though I don't mean it to be) but it was a prevalent thought in my head at the start of this book, so I'm going to do it. This book made me glad I am just an aunt and not a parent because at the start of this book, the kids are annoying. That said, let me add that they're very well written because I know siblings are like that. I have three of my own (siblings) and we were like that growing up and we're occasionally still like that even though we're all in our thirties now. Anyway, each chapter rotates between the three kids. At first I didn't realize the narrative had switched from Tom to Sam and spent a little time confused as to why Tom was referring to himself in the third person but then I caught on that the shifts were in order: Tom, Sam, Ruth until a switch to the third person POV near the end of the book. In the author's note following the story, he says scenes in between each chapter featuring the three kids arguing amongst themselves as they tell the story were cut because many of the adult readers found these scenes to be jarring. Without having read them, I have to say I likely would have found them jarring as well. The story does start off slow but I knew it would and so was fine with it. The action picks up with the chapter called "The Imagination Room". After that, it feels like a sprint to the end. I read a review of this book that called it "Speilbergian" which I found to be a perfect description. I believe the target audience is the young adult crowd but it will definitely appeal to adults— especially those with a love of Star Wars, Narnia, Dungeon & Dragons, Lord of the Rings, and the like.
Gone Girl- Gillian Flynn- I loved Gillian Flynn's first two novels, Dark Places and Sharp Objects. She know how to create characters and scenes. Her ability to craft words is outstanding. Beautiful, dark fiction. Gone Girl is no different. This book is all kinds of crazy and the end is really quite disturbing. I got to a point where I couldn't put it down, I had to keep reading because I had to know what the hell was going on. I read a review of this book which says the end punches the reader in the gut and boy, was it right. I was stunned by how it ended. A lot of people hate the ending and while I definitely don't love it, I love the fact that Gillian Flynn was brave enough to end the story that way. One of the very best books I've read all year.
Impact- Danni Foley- Not long enough. I know this is the start of a series and so there's more story to follow but it ended very soon and I want to know where things end up. We're introduced to a wide variety of characters all experiencing some form of upheaval and when the story comes to an end, things are still... upheaved? Is that a word? Anyway, I want to know the resolution. Yes, there are many typos but the author is aware of this. I also appreciated the humor and the pop culture references but where were the Firefly references?? Did I miss them? Maybe they'll be in the next book...
Changeling- Phillipa Gregory- Phillipa Gregory has long been one of my all time favorite authors. She writes beautiful historical fiction that I admire oh so much. This book is the first in a YA series. But I did not love it. I know she's setting up a series for young adults but the book was too slight and flighty, I guess. It started off very well, I think, in the way it introduced the two main characters but once those two characters met, things started to go downhill. The mysteries were kind of transparent and the main characters became very flat and uninteresting. One of the secondary characters was my favorite so here's hoping he has a much larger role in the next book.
Rapture- Lauren Kate- So, I’ve been very ho-hum about this entire series and yes, I read the entire series because I am a freak that way. That’s been well documented. And while I wasn’t a fan of the series, and I’m not really a fan of this book, I will say that this novel surprised me. It took three books and three hundred pages to do so but it surprised me.