introvertlife

Book Thoughts: Isaacs’ “Phantom & Rook” – 4.5/5⭐️

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Goodreads: 4.34/5 ⭐

Me: 4.5/5 ⭐

Aelina Isaacs’ Phantom & Rook: When an Immortal Falls in Love with a Witch was such a palate cleanser of a read, and easily bingeable. But don’t get me wrong, a LOT happens in this book.

There’s a hedge witch and an immortal who find each other after many years (though one of them doesn’t realize it), a wonderfully vibrant cast of supporting characters, and a mysterious game that’s causing chaos throughout the city.

I have to admit, this one kept me guessing. But, once I gave up on trying to figure out what the story was about, I finally realized it: Phantom & Rook is not about heroes fighting tangible villains, but inner ones. It’s about finding love and family again after being adrift for a very long time. Wrapped in a fantasy world filled with magic and mystery is a story about people who have experienced real world pain and suffering, and who must overcome it in order to finally find happiness.

I did wish there was a bit more backstory in this case, as there were mentions of several previous events that I would have liked to experience first hand with the characters. That said, it helped that there wasn’t a lot of it because the pace wasn’t interrupted. I’m very happy to see that there is already a short story out (When Witches Sing) because I really enjoyed my time in Levena. I would also love future stories that explore more of Arlo and Thatch’s pasts, so we can learn more about what made them the individuals they are today.

In all, I highly recommend this book to anyone wanting a warm hug after a heavy read, or a heavy day.

Book Thoughts: “The House in the Pines” by Ana Reyes

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Goodreads Rating: 3.2/5 

Mine: 3/5 (What I read)  

I did not finish this book. 

I made it to the halfway point before deciding not to continue, even though part of me wished I could. The book had great promise: a series of strange deaths, a protagonist of mixed descent finally ready to face her bogeyman, a father’s secret work, and a mysterious house in the woods tied to a murderer.  

However, Maya, was just not likable. At least, not to me. I couldn’t connect with the main character on any level (even the mixed heritage point). The chapters where the book touches on her Guatemalan blood (from her dad’s side) seemed shallow, though I truly wish the author would have fleshed this aspect of Maya out more. I enjoyed the mystery behind discovering her father’s book, and really wanted a hint to the secrets it held earlier in the story. However, this aspect was often overshadowed by flashbacks about other aspects of Maya’s life, that I almost forgot about the book altogether.  

I felt like there were many missed opportunities. Fleshing out Aubrey (and her possibly toxic friendship) earlier on rather than spending time on Dan, who pretty much disappears after the first few chapters. Also, fleshing out Maya’s connection with her grandmother, whose funeral she insisted on attending. Though, the reader didn’t get to meet the grandmother even in death. She remained an abstract. Perhaps it was an active choice not to show the grandmother during her funeral, and keep her as an abstract presence, but, it would have made death more concrete for Maya to have engaged with her grandmother’s body. It’s how we say goodbye, and gives things finality. That said, I enjoyed the description of the funeral procession through the graveyard. For some reason, graveyards in Latin America have a slumbering tranquility to them that I haven’t felt here in the US.

Also, there were large blocks of unnecessary backstory that slugged down the pace and took space away from the other competing themes.  

However, despite the points I mentioned, Reyes succeeded in creating a character in Frank that was both creepy and manipulative. Dude was slimy as all heck, and I felt my heart race during the chapters where he interacted with young Maya. Teenage girls are vulnerable, and he played on her need for validation and acceptance so well that you didn’t realize it was manipulation until several encounters later.  

Overall, The House in the Pines was not a book for me, but it was ambitious and created a villain that was believable in his sliminess. I look forward to reading Reyes’ future work.  

The Last Bookstore

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Hello All,

I hope this finds you well and enjoying a restful weekend. As you know, one of my reading goals for the year is to support more local bookshops over large retailers like B&N and Amazon. And, this February, I was given just the opportunity!

I am most thankful to my friends for supporting my book habit, and for accompanying me to Downtown LA’s very own “The Last Bookstore”. This was only our second time ever exploring LA (and tackling it’s own unique kind of traffic), so we did hit a few bumps along the road – and a farmer’s market – before locating the establishment on the corner of South Spring Street.

I’d been wanting to visit this place for a long time and it did not disappoint! Not only did it have two huge floors, but it also housed several themed rooms, art installations, and shops!

I took in the magic of each section one step at a time, starting off with Fiction, Classics, and Young Adults. I allowed books to jump out, letting them choose me instead of me choosing them. (I eventually walked away with P. Schonstein’s A Time of Angels: A Novel, M. Tokuda-Hall’s The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea, and an annotated copy of Frankenstein geared toward scientists and creatives of all types.)

On the second floor, I discovered not only a lovely Carroll-esque art installation (among several others) but also a wonderfully witchy little shop selling tarot cards, crystals, jewelry, and art by Liz Huston. I bought a few postcards to use as bookmarks there before heading out to find the book labyrinth. (Yes, they have a book labyrinth!)

It’s really an all-day kind of visit, but we were strapped for time as the drive back to the Central Valley was long. Before “re-entering the real world”, however, I made sure to leave well stocked in books and, of course, a hoodie.

Do you guys know of any bookshops in Northern California that I should visit?

2023 Reading Goals

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Photo by Anthony : ) on Pexels.com

Dear Reader,  

I am trying out a new format. Mainly, because I love writing letters and I thought it would be fun to incorporate that hobby into my online posts. Doesn’t it feel a lot less stuffy?  

Anyway, happy holiday weekend! I hope this finds you well and enjoying a peaceful February overall. Even though the month’s almost over, I still find it hard to believe at times that we’re already in 2023! We’ll probably be in 2025 if I blink fast enough, ha!  

I started the year with a few more manageable reading goals in mind. Five, to be exact. Last year felt like such a hot mess that I barely got any reading done and, in part, I wonder if it was because of my unrealistic expectations. I was trying to read 2-3 books a month, which is hard to do when you’re juggling full-time work and a bunch of other side projects. (And dealing with seasonal depression, where all you want to do is sleep and/or play nostalgia inducing video games – I discovered the cloud version of Kingdom Hearts for Nintendo Switch. Game over! Pun intended.)  

So, this year I decided to take it easier and challenge myself at the same time by:  

  • Reading at least 12 books in 2023.  
  • Reading at least 2 of those 12 books in Spanish.  
  • Reading at least 1 classic.  
  • Supporting more local book shops over larger franchises. (Here’s looking at you B&N and Amazon.)  
  • Making sure that at least 4 of the 12 books I read come from my kindle library, which grew over the previous year but never lessened. (Damn those kindle book deals.) 

Pretty attainable goals, right? And, in fact, I’ve already read two books and even got to support an amazing local bookshop in LA, The Last Bookstore (post on this coming soon). So, I’m off to a great start.  

How about you, friend? Did you enter the new year with any reading goals?  

Book Review: “Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe” – 5/5⭐️

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Pages: 384 

Rating: 5/5 Stars

Thoughts:

*****SPOILER WARNING (OF SORTS)*****

This is a beautiful book. Benjamin Alire Saenz’s Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe is a tender ride through the mind of Aristotle “Ari” Mendoza as he matures into a young man, and builds a lifelong relationship with his best friend, Dante Quintana. The two boys are like polar opposites, but bring out the best in each other. Ari is introspective by nature, and self doubting, while Dante is extroverted and very confident. Ari sometimes mentions how Dante seems to fit right in, while he himself struggles socially to the point of having no friends. 

Both boys carry a deep weight within their hearts, and it’s their friendship that gives them the courage to approach life, and their parents. While one fears rejection by bringing up his imprisoned brother, the other fears disappointing his parents by coming out to them. Being Mexican-American myself, I wholeheartedly sympathized with the two boys because family is such an important thing in Latinx culture. It’s pretty much sacred, and the fear of disappointment is very real. Yet, what struck me the most was the depth of love between the two families, and the relationship the parents had with their children. Because, as we know, not all traditional parents are so open minded. So, seeing the level of tenderness and acceptance from the Mendoza’s and Quintana’s made me want to cry. In fact, I did, a few times. 

What I enjoyed too was the use of the weather in this book. Hot summer days, clear starlit nights, and rainstorms. So many rainstorms. Saenz seemed to connect the weather with Ari in that way. In the beginning, it is summer and he is dry and parched, in need of a friend to exchange words with and validate his existence. Then come the storms of confusing emotions, of family secrets, of school, teenage angst, and injuries. It’s one after another for poor Ari, until, finally, the sky clears and he has come into himself.

In all, this is a fun and quick read, filled with the budding emotions of two teenage boys and the trials they face in a society that is not entirely understanding. But thankfully, they have family to rely on, as well as each other. Oh, and a dog named Legs. Let’s not forget Legs. 

If you choose to give this a read, let me know what you think! I haven’t picked up the second book just yet, so I’d love to hear thoughts from those who have read it.

Book Thoughts: The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet (3.5/5)

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Hello! I am currently stuck at home recovering from COVID, and so I finally have the time to catch up with a few book reviews I’d planned to upload. (Anyone else feel like 2022 is just an extension of 2021? Like where did the first half of the year go?) The first book I wanted to write on, which I’d started in January, I didn’t actually finish, though I really did try. Swear. That said, this book gave me mixed feelings because I really enjoyed the world building, but could not bring myself to connect with the main (I think) female lead. I’m a very particular reader in that I prefer strong female leads, and don’t often have patience for meandering plots. That said, I have always loved science fiction, and so really wanted to give this one a chance. Read on for more.

****SPOILER WARNING!****

Rating: 3.5/5 Stars. Wonderful world building, but shallow character development. 

In Chambers’ debut book, we join Rosemary Harper as she boards the Wayfarer and meets the crew whose job it is to tunnel wormholes through space. They’re immediately welcoming (except for one, but he’s a prick), and she slowly begins to find her place as the newest member. We see different aspects of each character’s lives as the point of view bounces between the crew. It’s at about the 20% mark when introductions are done. We have a little bit of backstory on each character, and the story begins to really move. However, I noticed that as the story progressed, I still didn’t have a good hold on who, exactly, Rosemary Harper was or even who she wanted to be. 

I feel like we get snippets of her personality, but her character is quickly overshadowed by the rest of the crew. What stuck out were the moments of dramatic tension that could have been used for her character growth. For example, the instance when the Wayfarer is boarded by pirates, and it’s Rosemary’s bit of tucked away knowledge (and language skills) that saves the crew’s bacon. I’m rooting for her here, and looking forward to seeing her in action. Yet, we only get a little bit of this before we’re pulled out of the moment by another POV change, and next thing we know we’re with Captain Ashby as he wakes up in med bay. Pirates gone and the crew pretty much intact. We learn about Rosemary’s actions after the fact, instead of staying with her in that moment. 

In fact, the story begins with Rosemary changing her identity and running away from something. But, it wasn’t until the halfway point of the book that we suddenly learned what, or who, it was. (Her father.) Honestly, at this point, it was a bit anticlimactic as I was frustrated with and unsure of her character and didn’t care anymore. So, when she begins to worry about being kicked off the ship and starts crying in front of Jenks, the comp tech, I’m right there with him and don’t get why she’s breaking down. After all, here’s a girl who faked her identity, boarded a ship of strangers, and took a romp through outer space. That takes guts. 

Perhaps, Rosemary does a bit more growing in the second half of the book. But at this time, I don’t really have the urge to pick it up and continue. Don’t get me wrong, A LOT happens in just the first half, but not enough that mattered to me. This is not to say that this is a bad book, but could be a trait in myself as a reader. This book requires a lot of patience. The meandering/episodic nature of the chapters allows for digestion of a universe that is quite massive and wonderfully exotic. I fell in love with it honestly, and with the colorful, strange crew. I loved Sissix the most, and her kindness towards crewmates and strangers alike. Second came Ohan, their Navigator, and their quiet nature. And, lastly, I really wanted to try eating whatever Dr. Chef was cooking. Even the bugs. 

In all, I do not want to dissuade anyone from giving this book a chance. After all, it’s the first of a whole series. But if you’re like me and you like a bit more immediate action and character development, and you want to know exactly who you’re following into space, you’ll need some patience on this one. 

If you’ve given it a read or are in the process, please share your thoughts!