Winter Book Haul | Mini-Reviews and TBR

It’s Winter Break for me right now, which means I finally have time to read! (and, evidently, to post on a Wednesday!)

This post is on the shorter side, but I just felt like talking about some of the books I have been reading recently. (And, no, I’m not addicted to buying books; the last time I did one of these was almost three months ago!)

Note: I haven’t yet read all of these, so half of this is a mini-reviews post and the other half is a TBR.

The Books:

1. My Lady Jane by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows- 3 stars

Genre: YA, historical fantasy, alternate history, humor, romance

Premise: Edward, the 16-year-old king of England, has fallen ill with the deadly Affliction, and he needs to find a successor before he dies. Jane, Edward’s cousin, would rather read all day than get married (relatable), no matter what anyone says. And Gifford is an Edian- a shapeshifter who can turn into an animal at will… except G can’t control his transformations, which is a problem since he’s going to be married off to Jane in order to secure Edward’s line of succession. Loosely based on 16th century England, My Lady Jane follows three teens whose lives will intersect in often unwanted ways as they try to save the kingdom from total destruction.

So… this book started out pretty strong. I thought the humor was clever, and the concept was creative. But then it started going downhill. I lost interest in the story after it turned into this whimsical quest with a good amount of plot holes and awkward pacing. It was a little disappointing since the beginning was so good… oh well! It also suffered from romance-takes-over-the-main-plot syndrome. I still enjoyed it, though, and I wouldn’t call it a bad book. I think people who particularly enjoy fantasy would probably like it better than I did.

2. The Enigma Game by Elizabeth Wein- 3 stars

Genre: YA, historical fiction, adventure

Premise: Set in small Scottish town in 1940, The Enigma Gamer follows three very different characters: Louisa Adair- a Jamaican girl who has been hired to take care of the elderly Jane Warner, Jamie Beaufort-Stuart an ambitious flight lieutenant, and Ellen McEwen- a friendly airfield volunteer. When they find themselves in possession of an Enigma Machine, covertly hidden in the town by a German defector, they end up involved in much more than any of them bargained for.

I blame my feelings for this book on my reading slump… this was probably not the book to read when I didn’t really feel like reading. It’s 400+ pages long and very slow-paced, so it took really long for me to get through and I found myself tempted to skim pages. I might actually reread this later because I was just not in the right mood when I read it.

That said, it was very well-researched and I loved the characters. Louisa was probably my favorite; she was very interesting and I enjoyed her POV chapters the most.

3. Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff– TBR

I don’t really like to write synopses for books I haven’t yet read/started reading, but I have linked the Goodreads blurb for all of my TBR books.

I have heard lots of good things about this book, and I wanted to read more sci-fi this year, so here we go. I also love mixed-media books, so I hope this will be an interesting read.

4. Challenger Deep by Neal Shusterman– TBR

Again, I have heard good things about this book, I was in the mood for a more serious kind of contemporary read, and the topic of mental health is very relevant right now. I was also intrigued by the cover. Let me know if you have read this one!

5. The Cousins by Karen M. McManus– Currently Reading

Of course I had to get Karen M. McManus’s new book! I’m about 60-70% through this book right now, and so far it is different from McManus’s previous novels, but good in its own way.

The Cousins honestly isn’t super creepy or mysterious and feels more contemporary-ish than thriller-ish, but it’s still a page-turner. I’ve already been surprised by some twists. I’ll probably write a full review for it when I finish since it’s so popular right now.

That’s it for today’s post! Have you read any of these books? Thanks for stopping by my blog!