Musing Mondays is a weekly meme, hosted by Ambrosia at The Purple Booker, that asks you to choose one of the following prompts to answer:

I’m currently reading…
Up next I think I’ll read…
I bought the following book(s) in the past week…
I’m super excited to tell you about (book/author/bookish-news)…
I’m really upset by (book/author/bookish-news)…
I can’t wait to get a copy of…
I wish I could read ___, but…
I blogged about ____ this past week…

THIS WEEK’S RANDOM QUESTION: Do you ever wish you could go back and fall in love with reading all over again?

I blogged about ____ this past week…

• Sunday, July 30 – Read-A-Thon! Blogged about my progress reading through The Beast is an Animal (completed) and Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen (less progress made than I’d have liked).
• Monday, July 31 – Finally remembered to post the quotes I liked from The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater and did my July Wrap-Up post, although I wish it had been longer.
• Tuesday, August 1 – Did my Teaser Tuesday, finished writing my review of The Beast is an Animal by Peternelle van Arsdale, and posted an update on the goals I had set for myself for 2017.
• Wednesday, August 2 – First came WWW Wednesday, where I determined the book I would read after Sense and Sensibility. Then, I did a belated Musing Monday post, almost entirely for the excuse of talking about food, but also partially to set a plan for meeting my goal of finally finishing Persuasion by Jane Austen. And of course, my #WAYRW post.
• Friday, August 4 – I got 2 of my Friday book tags done, First Lines Fridays & Friday 56, then later that night an update on my Persuasion progress, which was better than expected, but exactly as painful as expected.
• Sunday, August 6 – A couple updates on Sense and Sensibility, finally finished answering all the questions on a Book Questionnaire I was tagged in on booklr, then because I needed a break from regency writing I went ahead and started my next book, The Last Little Blue Envelope, and posted both a bookstagram and a little commentary after the first few chapters.

Nothing exactly remarkable, but overall a good past week for me.

Do you ever wish you could go back and fall in love with reading all over again?
I’m sure all readers do in some respect, but lately I’ve caught myself thinking about all the things that contributed to my love of certain books, and I’ve become convinced that if I were able to go back it wouldn’t be the same. And I certainly wouldn’t change my current specific feelings towards reading for anything!

I’d love to know your opinion on the matter. Comment with your answer or a link to your own post about it!

Welcome to WWW Wednesday! This meme was formerly hosted by MizB at Should be Reading and revived on Taking on a World of Words. Just answer the three W’s!

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

Currently Reading:  Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
This is a reread for me. I read it about 10 years ago, so I figured it was about time for a second round.

I remembered the story pretty much perfectly, but I had lost some of the nuance of the experience. For instance, I had forgotten how it felt like almost every conversation Elinor and Marianne have feels like borderline fighting!

I don’t like this one as much as Pride and Prejudice, but all of Austen’s works are good. I do think this one could do with a bit more snark though!

The main thing I’ve discovered during this reread:  I knew Marianne was dramatic, but it seems so much more over-the-top this time around!

Recently Finished:  The Beast is an Animal by Peternelle van Arsdale
I picked this book up for a booklr Read-A-Thon. I was too tired to keep reading a classic novel, and this one practically jumped off the shelves screaming to be read! (Not…you know…literally. I would have run away.)

It was the perfect one for Read-A-Thon. An quick, easy read, which was still engrossing enough to make me forget I was about to fall asleep!

I saw on Goodreads that the author is working on a second novel in the same genre, which I plan to keep an eye out for.

I wrote a review for this one, which you can read here!

Reading Next: The Last Little Blue Envelope by Maureen Johnson
(Little Blue Envelope, book 2)
I figure my next book should be a fluffier sort of read. And since I read the first book in this duet ages back, it’s probably past time to get to this one!

I may actually start this book before I completely finish Sense and Sensibility if I find myself needing a break from the somewhat denser writing style.

Rating:  ★★★☆☆ – liked it
Genre:  young adult fiction, fantasy, dark fairy tale
Pros:  mostly well written, nice twist on genre expectation, interesting mythos, witchy midwifery, interesting characters, interesting villains
Cons:  rushed ending, dumb romance, wait too long for diversity

This was a good, solid 3 star book. I liked it and enjoyed reading it, but I probably wouldn’t reread it. Not because it isn’t good, but because it just isn’t such an in-depth story that it benefits from a second reading. If you are looking for an easy read with an interesting mythos, this is a good pick.

When I first picked this book up, based solely on the title, I expected it to have some sort of action (e.g. hunting). This was definitely not the case, but I didn’t find myself disappointed on that front.

One of the more unexpected aspects for me was how long we spend with the main character as a child. In most YA novels, if you see the protagonist as a child it’s for a chapter or two and then the majority of the book has the protag as a teen. In TBiaA I believe full half of the novel takes place before Alys reaches her teen years. Luckily the narration isn’t childish so it’s still enjoyable to read. (Or as enjoyable as reading about a kid in a terrible situation can be, that is.)

One of my favorite aspects of the writing was the way that when Alys is a child, the narration is just vague enough that you know what’s going on, but you might not realize everything. Then when she is older the narration of the same things is specific enough that you realize aspects of it you hadn’t before. It helps you to understand things at the same pace as Alys, and keeps you in the characters head.

There is some split-POV in this book, with a few chapters from the perspective of a set of twins, and in fact the book starts from their perspective, but the majority is Alys’ POV. Usually I don’t like when books change point-of-view, but in this case I quite enjoyed it. In fact, I often found myself identifying more with the twins than the actual protagonist.

I did deeply enjoy the Welsh influence all over the book. I wondered when I saw the “ff” spelling of “forest” and then the protag’s name “Alys” and after only a few chapters I was convinced that this was a fictional world influenced by Wales which really enhanced my experience of the book. I was able to figure out all the pronunciations of the names based on my knowledge of Welsh language, and I got to hear all their voices in my head in Welsh accents, so it was quite nice.

If you are like me, you will spend at least half the book wondering if you’ll ever see any kind of diversity. The saving here is that the main character actually addresses that. She remarks that the people from outside her village are more diverse and wonders if it bothers the people in the village. Then later we do get to spend some time away from the all-white village and there is more diversity then. Including a nice little instance of the main character learning there are people who do not conform to a gender binary. I wish the diversity hadn’t come so late in the book, but having it at all in a fantasy novel was a pleasant surprise.

I will say, I wish there hadn’t been a romance. Or if there had to be, I wish it had been less intense and more slow-burning. Luckily, the romance didn’t crop up until almost the end of the book, so I didn’t have to deal with it long. I recognize the importance of Cian’s character as a confidant for Alys, but I wish Peternelle hadn’t decided to make him a love-interest… The only reason I can think of for adding a romance towards the end of the novel would be to give Alys something to hold on to and fight for. As it is, romance is completely unnecessary for that! She would have been just as motivated by family and community and acceptance, if not more-so. There was no reason at all to have Pawl and Beti conveniently have found another orphan for Alys to pair off with! (Twilight, anyone? Ugh.)

The ending also bothered me. Specifically the “final battle” (not actually a battle, but I can’t think what else to call it). It felt very rushed and sort of unfinished. Like the author hadn’t quite figured out how to end it and had to hurry to meet a deadline. Or perhaps like too many moments had been cut out of the ending scenes… Because it isn’t exactly the ending, but the way it ended, that was disappointing. It wasn’t so disappointing that it ruined the whole novel for me, but I did find myself reading the ending twice convinced I had missed something. It just didn’t seem fleshed-out enough.

I know this review sounds a bit negative for a book I claim to like. The main problem here is that the things I would most like to praise would involve too many spoilers! I don’t want to risk taking away from anyone’s enjoyment of the book, so I’ve had to leave those things out.

Goodreads | Book Depository | Author’s Website

I know a lot of people find classics dull, and granted there are quite a few incredibly dull classic novels, but this book is worth a read. There are many scenes that had me laughing out loud and calling other people to read a bit to them so they could appreciate it too.

My Posts About Pride and Prejudice

The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater
The Raven Cycle, book 3
Rating:  ★★★★☆
Reading Dates:  June 29 – July 17
Read Count:  2
Favorite Thing:  “It was 6:21.”
Least Favorite Thing:  Casual racism…yikes.

I should be posting a Raven Cycle post soon to talk about the series as a whole.

As for this one… The Unmaker gives me anxiety, I love all the Pynch, and Maggie really didn’t do Henry Cheng justice. Oh, and I’m proud of the Gray Man.

My Posts About The Raven King

The Beast is an Animal by Peternelle van Arsdale
Rating:  ★★★☆☆
Reading Dates:  July 30 (read it in a day for the Read-A-Thon)
Read Count:  1
Favorite Thing:  Witchcraft meets midwifery
Least Favorite Thing:  The freaking elders, like, fuck those dudes AND their bitchy wives…

I’m working on a review, hopefully have it up soon. I do definitely recommend this book. It’s easy to get through, but don’t expect a lot of action.

*** Update: I posted the review! ***

My Posts About The Beast is an Animal

Version:
Hardcover, 352 pages
Published February 28th 2017 by Margaret K. McElderry Books

As for my goals, I said I would love to finish a whole book, but that all I really wanted was an entire day of reading. I’m happy to say I met both those rather vague goals!

I read the entirety of The Beast is an Animal by Peternelle van Arsdale and made progress (if a bit slower than I’d have liked) on Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen.

Time Started:  9:16am
Time Ended:  11:59pm
Pages Read:  463  (The Beast is an Animal – 352 pages; Sense and Sensibility – 111 pages)

I took 2 breaks for meals, 2 for surfing the net to give my sleepy brain a break from reading, and 1 to have a chat with my husband after he finally got of work (most of the chat was about The Beast is an Animal anyway).

Thanks again to Mary @books-and-cookies for the fun Read-A-Thon! I hope we have another one soon!

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I’ve definitely got some things to say about this book. I’ll work on getting them into a coherent review.

*** Update: I posted a review! ***

View all my ratings on Goodreads

For now, I’ll break for supper. Then I’ll have to decide if I get back to Jane Austen or if I grab something else to wrap up Read-A-Thon…

Well, Alys is a better person than I am. I’d have been chowing down on delicious souls by now!

I’m not sure, but I feel like I’m not supposed to be identifying with the twins as much as I am… Oops!

Lee is on page 51 of 352

Lee is on page 51 of 367