Reading Slumps & Everday Life

So I think I’ve fallen into a reading slump and I only have myself to blame.

With two shows I am designing for coming up (one which I am doing the set and lights for), and doing extra work at my day job, I’ve pushed aside my reading-for-pleasure books and have tried to just focus on my ARCs and egalleys.  Which sucks because I’m a mood reader.  There have been plenty an egalley that I’ve read or DNFed that I just didn’t care for, but I knew that if I picked it up at another time in my life, I probably would enjoy a lot more.

As it is, I’m just meh about everything.  Even the one book I’m reading for myself – Opposition, the fifth book in the Lux series, and is actually an audiobook and takes up a different sort of free time – just isn’t holding my interest like it should.  I’m invested in these characters, shit is happening, I do want to know more.  But I just don’t feel like actively investing myself into it right now.

I ended up spending today mostly watching episodes of Roswell New Mexico, the new CW reboot.  I did do my job and read the script for the show I’m designing the lights for this week (don’t get me started on how that one is making me grind my teeth), but other than that?

I think my brain is just shot.

I’m actually kind of glad I turned down a gig that I was offerred for April.  I mostly turned it down because I wouldn’t have been able to get the design done in time for it, but now that I’ve reached this point, I think I need a month where my free time is just that – free.

 

Advertisements

Book Review | SPECTACLE, by Jodie Lynn Zdrok

Spectacle, by Jodie Lynn Zdrok

Publish Date: February 12, 2019
Published by: Tor Teen
Pages: 368
Genre: YA Historical Fiction/Mystery/Paranormal
My Rating: ★★★☆☆ (2.5 out of 5 stars)

**I received this as an egalley from the publisher through Netgalley, and as a physical ARC through my workplace, in return for an honest review.**

---

Synopsis:

Paris, 1887.

Sixteen-year-old Nathalie Baudin writes the daily morgue column for Le Petit Journal. Her job is to summarize each day’s new arrivals, a task she finds both fascinating and routine. That is, until the day she has a vision of the newest body, a young woman, being murdered–from the perspective of the murderer himself.

When the body of another woman is retrieved from the Seine days later, Paris begins to buzz with rumors that this victim may not be the last. Nathalie’s search for answers sends her down a long, twisty road involving her mentally ill aunt, a brilliant but deluded scientist, and eventually into the Parisian Catacombs. As the killer continues to haunt the streets of Paris, it becomes clear that Nathalie’s strange new ability may make her the only one who can discover the killer’s identity–and she’ll have to do it before she becomes a target herself.

---

My Review:

So much of me want to like this book more than I did. I was intrigued from the summary, and was looking forward to it very much. And the beginning started off well. But slowly, over the course of the novel, I found myself losing interest as the writing took off on tangents that felt unnecessary to the plot, and only mildly interested in the characters themselves.

Book Review | ORIGIN, by Jennifer L. Armentrout

 

Origin (Lux #4), by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Publish Date: August 27, 2013 (audiobook published October 28, 2013)
Published by: Entangled Teen/Tantor Audio
Narrated by: Justine Eyre, Rob Shapiro
Length: 11 hrs 33 min (364 pages)
Genre: YA Sci-Fi/Romance
My Rating: ★★★★☆ (4 out of 5 stars)

---

Synopsis:

Daemon will do anything to get Katy back.

After the successful but disastrous raid on Mount Weather, he’s facing the impossible. Katy is gone. Taken. Everything becomes about finding her. Taking out anyone who stands in his way? Done. Burning down the whole world to save her? Gladly. Exposing his alien race to the world? With pleasure.

All Katy can do is survive.

Surrounded by enemies, the only way she can come out of this is to adapt. After all, there are sides of Daedalus that don’t seem entirely crazy, but the group’s goals are frightening and the truths they speak even more disturbing. Who are the real bad guys? Daedalus? Mankind? Or the Luxen?

Together, they can face anything.

But the most dangerous foe has been there all along, and when the truths are exposed and the lies come crumbling down, which side will Daemon and Katy be standing on?

And will they even be together?

---

My Review:

Wow this one was definitely a whirlwind of action and emtion. I loved getting Daemon’s perspective, however the audiobook narrator was a little…slow at times. It was a little aggravating at first, but I slowly got used to it by the end.

Book Review | STOLEN TIME, by Danielle Rollins

Stolen Time (Dark Stars #1), by Danielle Rollins

Publish Date: February 5, 2019
Published by: HarperTeen
Pages: 416
Genre: YA Sci-Fi
My Rating: ★★★☆☆ (2.5 out of 5 stars)

**I received this as an egalley from the publisher through Edelweiss in return for an honest review.**

---

Synopsis:

Seattle, 1913 // Dorothy is trapped. Forced into an engagement to a wealthy man just so she and her mother can live comfortably for the rest of their days, she’ll do anything to escape. Including sneaking away from her wedding and bolting into the woods to disappear.

New Seattle, 2077 // Ash is on a mission. Rescue the professor—his mentor who figured out the secret to time travel—so together they can put things right in their devastated city. But searching for one man means endless jumps through time with no guarantee of success.

When Dorothy collides with Ash, she sees it as her chance to start fresh—she’ll stow away in his plane and begin a new life wherever they land. Then she wakes up in a future that’s been ripped apart by earthquakes and floods; where vicious gangs rule the submerged city streets and a small group of intrepid travelers from across time are fighting against the odds to return things to normal. What Dorothy doesn’t know is that she could hold the key to unraveling the past—and her arrival may spell Ash’s ultimate destruction.

---

My Review:

I was really excited about this book when I first read the description. It sounded invigorating and fun, with lots of time travel and hijinks galore. And I loved that one of the main characters was going to be from a point in history, not just from the future like most time travel books seem to have. And while it started off well, with fast-paced action keeping me entangled in the story, by the halfway point I was quickly losing interest because I just could not find much connection with the characters themselves.

Book Review | OPAL, by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Opal (Lux #3), by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Publish Date: December 11, 2012 (audiobook published April 30, 2013)
Published by: Entangled Teen/Tantor Audio
Narrated by: Justine Eyre
Length: 11 hrs 30 min (382 pages)
Genre: YA Sci-Fi/Romance
My Rating: ★★★★☆ (4 out of 5 stars)

---

Synopsis:

No one is like Daemon Black.

When he set out to prove his feelings for me, he wasn’t fooling around. Doubting him isn’t something I’ll do again, and now that we’ve made it through the rough patches, well… There’s a lot of spontaneous combustion going on.

But even he can’t protect his family from the danger of trying to free those they love.

After everything, I’m no longer the same Katy. I’m different… And I’m not sure what that will mean in the end. When each step we take in discovering the truth puts us in the path of the secret organization responsible for torturing and testing hybrids, the more I realize there is no end to what I’m capable of. The death of someone close still lingers, help comes from the most unlikely source, and friends will become the deadliest of enemies, but we won’t turn back. Even if the outcome will shatter our worlds forever.

Together we’re stronger… and they know it.

---

My Review:

Whew. This one definitely left me breathless. There were many ups and downs to this book.

Book Review | SHADOWS, by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Shadows (Lux #0.5), by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Publish Date: February 20, 2012 (audiobook published May 13, 2013)
Published by: Entangled Teen/Tantor Audio
Narrated by: Justine Eyre
Length: 4 hrs 50 min (165 pages)
Genre: YA Sci-Fi/Romance
My Rating: ★★★☆☆ (3 out of 5 stars)

---

Synopsis:

The last thing Dawson Black expected was Bethany Williams. As a Luxen, an alien life-form on Earth, human girls are…well, fun. But since the Luxen have to keep their true identities a secret, falling for one would be insane. Dangerous. Tempting. Undeniable.

Bethany can’t deny the immediate connection between her and Dawson. And even though boys aren’t a complication she wants, she can’t stay away from him. Still, whenever they lock eyes, she’s drawn in. Captivated. Lured. Loved.

Dawson is keeping a secret that will change her existence…and put her life in jeopardy. But even he can’t stop risking everything for one human girl. Or from a fate that is as unavoidable as love itself.

---

My Review:

While this was an interesting story that gave a little more insight to what happened with Bethany and Dawson, I felt like it didn’t really do much more than what was already mentioned in the books.