"Slayer" by Kiersten White

I decided to read Slayer by Kiersten White because the cover claims the book is “from the world of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.” I was a huge Buffy fan back in the day. Watched the series from the very first episode when it released in 1997. The book is set in the same world, but Buffy is not the main character.  Instead, we follow Nina and her sister Artemis, who live with the remnants of the Watchers’ Council in a castle outside of Dublin.

I would say the world felt more like that of the spin-off show Angel, where you know Buffy is in it doing her thing, but this is a different story. I have seen some not so positive reviews from Buffy fans, but personally I loved the book. I thought the pacing, the banter, the setting were all on point. Perhaps since I’ve read so many disappointing YA novels lately, it was not hard for Slayer to clear the bar set so low. But I truly do think Kiersten White did a great job with this book. If you are a Buffy fan, and in particular, if you also enjoyed the spin-off show Angel, I would definitely give it a go. Five out of five stars for me. Can’t wait for book 2!

"This is Our Story" by Ashley Elston

This is Our Story is a YA mystery set in a small Louisiana town. Five teenagers, spoiled rich boys and high school seniors, host a party at a hunting lodge, and in the morning one of them is found dead, shot with his own hunting rifle. None of the other four admits to shooting Grant Perkins and all of them decide to stick together and deny having seen anything.

The story is narrated by Kate Marino, another high school senior who interns at the prosecutor's office and works for the official who gets the case. Kate has a personal stake in the case, as for weeks leading up to his death, Grant had been texting with Kate and they seemed to have a real connection.

This book is a real page turner with a lot of twists in the plot. Nothing is as it seems. I was at the edge of my seat while reading pretty much the entire time. If you enjoy mysteries and thrillers, I definitely recommend this one. It is a quick read that kept me guessing until the very end. 5 out of 5 stars.

"The Gilded Wolves" by Roshani Chokshi

I received an e-ARC of this book from NetGalley. The novel is scheduled to release in the US tomorrow, January 15, 2019.

I have to be honest, I was skeptical going into this book. Lately, I've read too many YA fantasy novels that fell far too short of my expectations. The Gilded Wolves is by far one of the best YA fantasy novels I've read in the last few years.

I always struggle when rating books. How do you give the same rating (5 stars) to a classic novel that has withstood the test of time (e.g. Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment) and a YA fantasy book that you know might not be remembered 20 or 30 years from now? Well, for me, a YA fantasy deserves a 5 star rating if (a) it is engaging and unpredictable; (b) has interesting characters; (c) has some inkling of an angsty romance; and (d) is well written. The Gilded Wolves checks all of these items. I was completely swept away by the world. The writing is exquisite. The world is interesting and unique, and the characters are as complex as they are varied. I thoroughly enjoyed it and cannot wait for the sequel.

I do think it is best going into this book blind. But if you have to know anything, know this: it is set in the 1880s Paris. There is magic and interesting mythology. There is a crew of misfits that is trying to pull of a major heist. The book has lots of action and twists and turns, reads very quickly, and the author is skilled with metaphors and descriptions.

5 out of 5 stars. I highly recommend this to all YA fantasy fans.

"Village School" by Miss Read

This was my second attempt at reading this book and this time around I got through it. Last time, I just wasn't in the mood for a slow-paced English-village-comedy-of-manners kind of narrative. Village School is the first book in a long series centered on a fictional English village called Fairacre set in the 1950s. The story is told by the local school headmistress Miss Read. The author herself was a schoolteacher and quite possibly used a lot of material from her own life for the books.

Village School is fairly short (under 250 pages), and is written as a compilation of short vignettes about the life of the school. We start on the first day of the term and follow the headmistress, her students and the various village inhabitants until the school year ends. There is no real plot. Nothing major really happens. What you get is a great glimpse into what an English village school was like in the 1950s. You also get a cast of likable characters, and well-written stories about every day life in the village. I ended up really enjoying this book. At one point while reading, I did think it was a bit dull. But the author has a wonderful sense of humor and I found myself chuckling quite a bit at her witty good-natured commentary on village manners and habits.

If you enjoy cozy reads set in the English country side about simpler times and life, I would definitely recommend Miss Read and this series. I have read one other of her books from another series called Thrush Green, and it was also wonderful. 4 out of 5 stars.

"A Pigeon and a Boy" by Meir Shalev

A Pigeon and a Boy is a literary fiction novel by a renown Israeli writer Meir Shalev. The novel follows two separate timelines alternating between the present day Israel and Israel on the brink of and at the beginning of its War of Independence in the 1940s. Ultimately, it is the story of two boys and two love stories. Slowly, deliberately, Shalev allows us to see how the stories are connected. What I liked about his writing is that he does not spell things out to the reader. He has confidence his readers can infer and figure things out on their own. The book also includes some of the most lyrical passages I've ever read in literature. Here is one of my absolute favorites:

"Migrating birds have winter homes and summer homes"... "But which of the two is the real one, the one they come home to?"
"The whole world's their home," Tirzah said. "When they fly down to Africa all they're really doing is moving from room to room" (p. 151).

This quote moved me to tears. As someone who has moved quite a bit and always struggled with the idea of "home," this passage is quite liberating on so many levels. We all just move from room to room. That is so beautiful!

The one thing that did not quite work for me in this book were the sections focused on the physical relationships between characters. Instead of being beautiful, innocent and touching, I thought they were extremely awkward and I tended to skip over them. Fortunately, there weren't that many.

Overall, if you like well-written novels with well developed characters and a slowly emerging plot line, I would definitely recommend this book. 4 out of 5 stars.

2019 Reading Goals

Happy New Year!

In 2019, my main reading goal is to read the books I want to read. Many times I feel obligated to read an ARC for review or a bookclub pick, and it really ruins the joy of reading. So in 2019, my goal is to have fun. I am also going to set my Goodreads challenge goal a bit lower as I do want to read some longer books without worrying about the number of books I am reading. Finally, since reading classics has proven to be a real struggle, I found a classics-focused reading challenge online, which I will try to follow. The categories in this challenge are pretty broad so I should still be able to stick to the plan of "reading the books I want to read" while ticking of specific challenges. And here is the overall list:

1. Read the books I want to read
2. Read 80 books in 2019
3. Read more classics. Here is the classics challenge I have chosen:

2019 Back to Classics Reading Challenge

_ 1. 19th Century Classic. Any classic book originally published between 1800 and 1899.

_ 2. 20th Century Classic. Any classic book originally published between 1900 and 1969. All books in this category must have been published at least 50 years ago. The only exceptions are books that were published posthumously but were written at least 50 years ago. 

_ 3. Classic by a Female Author.

_ 4. Classic in Translation. Any classic originally written in a novel other than your native language. You may read the book in your native language, or its original language (or a third language for all you polyglots!) Modern translations are acceptable, as long as the book was originally published at least 50 years ago. Books in translation are acceptable in all other categories as well.

_ 5. Classic Comedy. Any comedy or humorous work. Humor is very subjective, so if you think Crime and Punishment is hilarious, go ahead and use it, but if it's a work that's traditionally not considered humorous, please tell us why in your post. 

_ 6. Classic Tragedy. Tragedies traditionally have a sad ending, but just like the comedies, this is up for the reader to interpret. 

_ 7. Very Long Classic. Any classic single work 500 pages or longer, not including introductions or end notes. Omnibus editions of multiple works do not count. Since page counts can vary depending on the edition, average the page count of various editions to determine the length.

_ 8. Classic Novella. Any work of narrative fiction shorter than 250 pages. 

_ 9. Classic From the Americas (includes the Caribbean). Includes classic set in either continent or the Caribbean, or by an author originally from one of those countries. Examples include Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston (United States); Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys (Jamaica); or One Hundred Years of Solitude (Columbia/South America). 

_ 10. Classic From Africa, Asia, or Oceania (includes Australia). Any classic set in one of those contents or islands, or by an author from these countries. Examples include Palace Walk by Naguib Mahfouz (Egypt); The Makioka Sisters by Junichiro Tanizaki (Japan); On the Beach by Nevile Shute (Australia); Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe (Nigeria). 

_ 11. Classic From a Place You've Lived. Read locally! Any classic set in a city, county, state or country in which you've lived. Choices for me include Giant by Edna Ferber (Texas); Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser (Chicago); and Buddenbrooks by Thomas Mann (Germany). 

_ 12. Classic Play. Any play written or performed at least 50 years ago. Plays are eligible for this category only.

Happy Reading!