Jackaby

Jackaby by William Ritter is a crossroads between Supernatural, Sherlock Homes, and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.

Jackaby is a supernatural detective, in 1892, with as many things in his home as Newt Scamander has in his suitcase. Odd ball, scatterbrained man that he is, he has a good heart and is willing to help people.

But the story is written through the eyes Abigail Rook, a newly arrived girl to the Americas who ran away from home to start her own adventures--though they have gone awry. Eager to not starve in the America's Abigail looks for a new job and finds an advertisement for an assistant of some sort. When she goes there she is instantly dragged into a murder mystery with crazy things happening. Abigail is introduced to Banshees, ghosts, and a duck who used to be human, amongst others.

Over all it is a small book, that would have been a quick read if I wasn't distracted by other things at home, and when I got to actually sit down and read it I found I really enjoyed it. I am already going to give my copy to a friend who was very excited about the mixture of three different types of stories put together.

The "beasts" we are introduced to are ones that are fairly well known, banshees, ghosts, fairies,  etc. but Jackaby gives us explanations as to why they are the way they are. Like he'd talked to a bunch of them and got their stories, which he probably had.

I like the characters because they were fun.  I could almost put every single person as a movie personality though. Such as Officer Cane reminded me of Officer Buzz McNab from Psych, so much so that McNab was who I was picturing in my mind when Officer Cane was in a scene. This could be good or bad depending on the reader's preferences.  I was able to pick a personality to most of the major characters except Abigail. While she had her likes and virtues, she didn't really have any vices or things that rounded her out as a character. She took everything in stride and believed it all so quickly, a tad unbelievable.  That was a bit disappointing. Though I was engaged enough to want to read the next few in the series which I will be doing at a future date.

Perfect Scoundrels

Perfect Scoundrels is the last in the Heist Society novels by Ally Carter and can I say that this is the perfect ending for the series. I would wish with a large portion of my heart that she would do a sequel series to this, because it was just amazing.

It starts off with Hale ditching Kat and the rest of her crew while on a heist with no explanation. Slightly irked at her boyfriend, Kat finds out that Hale's great-grandmother passed away and in her will gave everything to him. This boy of 15 (?) has now inherited his family's entire billion company. Overwhelmed by the death of his only relative whom he actually liked and liked him back as well as this new responsibility, Hale becomes distant from Kat and the rest of her family.

Then suddenly Marcus, the ever present and always watching manservant to Hale, gives Kat a job. The will that gave Hale the entire fortune is a fake. So Kat and the rest of her crew have to find the real one and the person behind it. There are sinister things hidden in all the Hale's closets and we soon find out many of them.

This book was fantastic. As I said, a perfect ending to the series. In the previous books we were given bits and pieces of Kat's whole family, and there are a lot of them. It is her biggest heist yet and needs everyone in on it. It was fun to go back and visit the London and the same museum they stole from in the first book along with other small heists throughout the story to get to the ending with the biggest con of them all.

Her characters have been consistent throughout the whole of the series, which is really good considering I've read a few where characters personalities change from chapter to chapter. While consistent, they do grow as the stories have progressed. Their are real arguments and debates on whether Kat and Hale will stay boyfriend/girlfriend. They show emotion and at one point almost had me in tears. I love the way they banter back and forth, giving amazing names to different styles of heists that they could use to accomplish their end game. They all have their own different personalities which keep the book alive.

I do wish there was more setting. I'm a sucker for a good bit of imagined setting or fun descriptions about the places they are in. But what it lacked for in setting, it made up for in a fantastic heist story that constantly had me turning pages. It lit up my very grey week with its humor and characters while still keeping it within the realm of reality.

It also weighs heavy on family. The importance of family and sticking together. Also that sometimes the best families are the ones you don't share blood with, though other times blood relations are just as amazing too.

I'd recommend this series to anyone who is looking for an upbeat, fun book.

City of a Thousand Dolls

City of a Thousand Dolls got kind of boring for me. I couldn't stand reading it for too long even after 100 pages.

Nisha is a girl who is part of no caste, from unknown ancestry, and was left at the doors of the City of a Thousand Dolls--a place where women go to prepare for their husbands or future careers (I think careers, I know they want to get married off though). She is the eyes and ears of the Matron of the City so she sees and hears everything that happens. But then, on the week leading to the Redeeming (where the girls get selected by their prospective spouses), girls start dying. First an accident then poisoning.

Even though people are dying, I didn't care. I'm sure there are girls who would really enjoy this, but I didn't. There seemed to be little for me to want to grasp and care about.

There is a romance that has kindled, but I don't think it'll pan out like Nisha wants it too--boy thinking of family name more than her (though I could be wrong). It didn't seem to be going anywhere, or if it does it shouldn't have. The romance is very paper thin with lots of makeout sessions hidden from sight. Something you would expect a newly junior high school student to be fantasizing over. Almost 1D, not even 2D.

There were talking cats too, which I know can be a turn off for some people. Like she has no friends, except maybe one, and the cats that follow her around. And the only reason they talk is because she needs to have dialog with someone. But she isn't trusted by anyone or she doesn't trust anyone enough to have meaningful conversations except the cats who can't talk to anyone else. Why can she do this? ... Reasons. That's why.

I will give Ms. Foster points on an interesting setting. The City and surrounding culture was interesting. All the different factions that exist in the City where girls worked to become an expert in specific things. That was cool, but not exactly interesting enough to keep me engaged. I started it well over a week ago, and barely got 75 pages in, still didn't care, and started skimming.

I'd probably disregard this book and find something else.

The Appearance of Annie van Sinderen

The Appearance of Annie Van Sinderen is a ghost story without ever using the word "ghost."

Wes is a media major assisting his friend who is producing a small film for their college summer school class. They go to a seance to hopefully see a ghost or something spooky. What they don't realize is that they actually spotted one. Annie bops in and out of 1840 New York to the present in hopes that she can find out what happened to her and her family and, more specifically, what happened to her cameo that her beau gave her that has gone missing. Wes and very few others can actually see her and search to find out what happened.

The story is cut into three parts: Wes, Annie, and West/Annie. As Wes figures out that Annie is a ghost we jump to her story and what happened throughout the week before her demise. But as she flashes back to the past, she's able to change things, or is she? She acts differently around others and they, in turn, respond differently. She is able to find new clues to her past and what happened.

I think the book is well written, but for those who don't care for heavy description, be ready to skim/skip parts. It if full of heavy description. Though interesting to see what it is like to walk the streets of present-day New York through the eyes of someone who hasn't seen buildings higher than three stores. That was fun. I liked the difference of views that were subtle throughout the story. When we are reading through Wes' point of view, it is different with different things emphasised than it is through Annie's. She focuses on the "cushioned chair" or small delicate things, whereas Wes sets his focus like you would a camera. I thought that was well done. It also definitely showed what it is like to be in a nineteen year old boys mind.

The transition between the two times was easy to see, though sometimes a bit long in description.  I understand that sometimes that transition can be sticky, but she Katherine Howe did it well.

Um... aside from that, it took me awhile to get it finished. I found it easy to put down and I knew what was going to happen well before it did. I finished it because I wanted to see how it was going to end and if I was right--which I was. It's not one that I'd be eager to pick up again, but it was alright.

I'd suggest this for a light read if someone wanted it.

Depression & Other Magic Tricks

Much like Our Numbered Days, Depression & Other Magic Tricks is a book of poetry produced by Button Poetry that I found online.

I very much enjoyed Sabrina Benaim's poems in this book and the development that happened as I turned the pages. It, of course, talks about depression and dealing with it, trying to explain it, and seriously just coping with it. But then it also goes into life around depression as well, triggers. Many of the poems are about dealing with a specific break up it seems where the boy in her mind just won't go away. She is glad/sad he's gone but always wanting him back, but unable to get him back. The progression of events was fantastic.

I was trying to explain to my grandmother how to read poetry to get its fullest meaning (read the sentence not the line break before you take a breath, read it a few times: the first to figure out what it says, the second to find further meaning, and a third to truly, simply enjoy the poem) and was actually having a hard time showing her how to read to the end of the sentence. Because there were hardly any of them in there. Quite a few of her poems were very long run on sentences were you, the reader, had to decide where to take a breath. There were many with "/" every few words that separated the fragments of sentences just enough for a feel of the line breaks without having line breaks.

The poem that really drew me to Sabrina Benaim though was her presentation of "Explaining Depression to My Mother, A Conversation." It was beautiful and shows how difficult it is for those who have depression to explain it to someone; someone who doesn't have it, doesn't get it, but is still trying--in their own way--to help. Below is her recitation of her beautiful poem.

Enjoy, like I do.

Adulthood is a Myth, Big Mushy Happy Lump

Sarah Anderson is a comic artist that I found on Facebook and fell in love with her introverted nature displayed through her comics titled "Sarah's Scribbles". From not wanting to socialize to a love finding her love of cats to wanting to constantly steal her boyfriends hoodies to weather changes, her comics are funny and girly.

I enjoyed them immensely in both of her books Adulthood is a Myth and Big Mushy Happy Lump. 

I enjoyed them because I related to many of the moments that were portrayed. I've had glares when I occasionally steal my husband's shirts or jackets. I know what it's like to  be around too many people and needing that recharge. I don't draw well otherwise I'd probably draw comics too instead of writing a book blog.

I read other reviews on Goodreads after I had read them because I wanted to know what other people thought.

They had problems with this book because they were a compilation of her online work and there were a few that seemed as though they were the same from book to book (I don't think this is true, similar comics but not the exact same ones, at least I'm pretty sure). She writes comics. You shouldn't expect her to have long drawn out comics when all she's produced before are these "scribbles." Many people compared her book to Hyperbole and a Half which is a blog with lengthy prose and comics that coincide. These have been simply  short comics that are normally no longer than six boxes long. If you liked Hyperbole and a Half, I think you'd enjoy this one as well.

They're lighthearted and funny for those with introverted natures. Extroverts might enjoy this too, but it seemed those who reviewed them as being "poor" tended to not thing them as funny because they didn't understand those moments (someone I would judging-ly assume is an extrovert, sorry if I'm wrong about that).

Our Numbered Days

Our Numbered Days is a book of poetry. I fell in love with on of the poems that I saw him perform on the Button Poetry's facebook page and instantly asked my library to buy a copy. I found that the rest of his poetry is really good too.

A lot of the poems in this book are about relationships. Many are about girlfriends, but others are talk about his grandmother or dealing with people around him--mostly the annoying people around him. But a lot of other poems talk about mental illnesses and things correlating with suicide. They are beautifully done.

He does swear, which I think will be the case for a lot of modern books of poetry. So you'll have to deal, if you care.

But below is a video of Neil Hilborn performing his poem "OCD" at a TedTalkx back in 2013 after his poem went viral and he started touring. He not only performs his poem, which poetry is best when heard/read aloud, but talks about his experience through going viral. It is at a TedTalk Conference centered on Change, so he also discusses how others who don't experience mental illnesses can help, which has been a big thing for me to help my friends.

Please, enjoy.