Tag / First Impressions Friday

by PerfectlyTolerable

First Impression Friday – A Darker Shade of Magic, Heroine Worship, and Harry Potter

First Impression Friday is a meme created by J.W. Martin where you spotlight a book you have recently started and share your initial impressions.

I love this meme.  Its my second favorite meme!  Yet I am awful at it 😦 Most of my 1st impression posts were written when I was half way through the book.  My timing is all off and I never remember to write the post ahead of time when I am actually just starting the book.

So don’t judge me for my progress so far in the books! It still counts ish!

A Darker Shade of Magic

by V.E. Schwab

A Darker Shade final for Irene

Amazon | Goodreads

Disclaimer: The above Amazon Link is an affiliate link. If you purchase anything through one of my links I will get a small commission! All the thoughts/opinions in this post are mine and in no way influenced by Amazon.

I am on page 242 of 413 which is 59% of the way through the book. (Don’t judge me! We talked about this already!)

My first first impression is that I absolutely hate this cover! Until just now I thought it was an upside down, weird looking wizard in a red robe.  The white was his beard and he had a weird horned head.  This makes no sense with the book so I was looking closer and trying to figure out what it was when I realized that it is an aerial view of a person jumping across the two cities. The white is the hair on the top of his head and the horn things are actually his legs.  His coattails are billowing out behind him.  Did anyone else see that wrong?

As for the book itself I am loving it! I am buddy reading with Leslie from Books are the New Black.  Its my first time buddy reading with another blogger and its fun! She is loving the book too!

Heroine Worship

by Sarah Kuhn

Worship

Amazon | Goodreads

I am on Page 102 of 375 which is 27% of the way through the book.  This may seem like a better book for First Impression Friday but I have read it before so it doesn’t really count.

I don’t like this book, but am re-reading it because it is part of a series.  Heroine Complex (the first book in the series) is one of my favorite books! The 3rd book in the series, Heroine’s Journey, was just released 2 days ago and I wanted to re-read the first books before starting the 3rd.

But I am struggling.  I didn’t like the 2nd book and I think its worse the second time around because I know that I don’t like it and am not excited for what is coming next.

But I am still super excited about Heroine’s Journey so I am going to power through it!

Harry Potter And The Sorcerer’s Stone

by J.K. Rowling

Narrated by Jim Dale

Harry Potter.jpg

Amazon | Goodreads

I have listened to 4 hrs and 40 minutes of  the 8 hours and 34 minute long Audiobook (54%) Again I am more than half way and I have read this before, but I have never listened to the Audiobook before so this is going to be my first impression of the Audiobook.

I listened to The Night Circus narrated by Jim Dale and I loved his narration.  Because The Night Circus and Harry Potter are so different it took me a little while to get used to the fact that it was the same voice reading them which kept making me feel like they should have been in the same universe.  Once I got over that I am loving his narration of Harry Potter!

The only thing I don’t like is his voice for McGonagall.  It sounds almost Scottish at times? It bugs me a little, but isn’t completely awful.

What new books are you reading right now? How are you liking them? Have you read either of these two books? How did you like them? (Please no spoilers!!!)

by PerfectlyTolerable

First Impression Friday – Spinning Silver

First Impression Friday is a meme created by J.W. Martin where you spotlight a book you have recently started and share your initial impressions.

Spinning Silver

by Naomi Novik

Silver

Amazon | Goodreads

Disclaimer: The above Amazon Link is an affiliate link. If you purchase anything through one of my links I will get a small commission! All the thoughts/opinions in this post are mine and in no way influenced by Amazon.

I am on page 175 of 434.  That is 40% of the way through the book.

Uprooted by Naomi Novik is one of my favorite books, so when I saw she was writing another book in the same vein I was beyond excited!  I recieved a signed ARC at Comic Con last weekend! I lined up over an hour before her signing began and was the first in line (until I got cut because the workers screwed me but thats a story for another time)

Before reading Spinning Silver I wanted to re-read Uprooted (review to come) and read it in 2 days.  I devoured Uprooted.  Spinning Silver is only 13 pages longer than Uprooted but I have been reading it for 4 days and am only 40% of the way through.

I just can’t get into it.  I like the characters and want to know what happens but I haven’t gotten sucked in.  I’m bored and the book is just dragging along.  I wouldn’t be upset if someone told me the ending so I wouldn’t have to finish it.  I want to know how it ends but I don’t want to put in the time to fight through.

But at the same time I am still hoping it will get better – that I will get sucked in the same way Uprooted pulled me in.  I will finish it, but it might take me a while.  I haven’t given up hope completely!

by PerfectlyTolerable

First Impression Friday – The Hazel Wood and The Night Circus

First Impression Friday is a meme created by J.W. Martin where you spotlight a book you have recently started and share your initial impressions.

I didn’t have any first impressions the last two Fridays because Two weeks ago I didn’t start any new books and last week I finished the book before Friday.  But this week I have 2 books!

The Hazel Wood

by Melissa Albert

Hazel

Amazon | Goodreads

Disclaimer: The above Amazon Link is an affiliate link. If you purchase any of these books through one of my links I will get a small commission! All the thoughts/opinions in this post are mine and in no way influenced by Amazon.

Location: Page 209 of 355 (59%)

I am a little over halfway through the book, so I don’t know if this still counts as a first impression, but I am going to give my thoughts anyway!

This book started off kind of slow.  It took me a little while to get into it.  But somehow without me even noticing, I got sucked in and now I can’t wait to find out what happens! I like it a lot so far.

This is not usually the type of book I read.  I try to stay far away from anything remotely horrorish.  And I don’t like Alice and Wonderland.  But this book is actually not that scary (at least not yet) and it doesn’t seem like an Alice and Wonderland re-telling.  (Though I have only watched the movie so I don’t actually know)

I think overall I will end up liking the book.  I predict 4 stars out of 5.

The Night Circus

by Erin Morgenstern

narrated by Jim Dale

Circus

Amazon | Goodreads

Disclaimer: The above Amazon Link is an affiliate link. If you purchase any of these books through one of my links I will get a small commission! All the thoughts/opinions in this post are mine and in no way influenced by Amazon.

Location: Time 5 hours and 42 minutes of 13 hours 39 minutes (42%)

I picked this book because it was on sale and it was read by Jim Dale.  I was told that Jim Dale is a great narrator and that I should listen to one of the books he reads.  On this front I an not disappointed!!  He is a great narrator and I love his voice.

The book itself is a different story.  I am loving it but at the same time I am really confused.  The story jumps around a lot.  Both in time and location.  I have a knack at forgetting times and places as soon as I am told them.  They go in one ear and out the other.  Each chapter starts with the date and location, but I forget it even as it is being said.  This makes it really confusing at times.  Also parts of the story are purposely kept in mystery so that doesn’t help my confusion.

I am hoping that as I read more of the book my confusion will go away because I am loving the characters and the scenes! I would hate to feel unsatisfied at the end of the book because I was still confused about things, even if most of the confusion is my own fault.

I am hoping that I won’t be too confused as the story progresses and I am liking the story a lot and I am thinking it will be a 5 stars out of 5!

by PerfectlyTolerable

First Impression Friday – The Wendy & Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda

First Impression Friday is a meme created by J.W. Martin where you spotlight a book you have recently started and share your initial impressions.

I have two books this week! The Wendy and Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda! I started both last night and am super excited!

The Wendy

by Erin Michelle Sky and Steven Brown

wendy

 

I am 70% of the way through this book, so I am a little past first impressions, but I read all 70% last night so it still counts!

  • My first first impression was that the cover is awesome! I love it!  Wendy looks so bad-ass and I loved her before I even started reading!
  • My second first impression (once I started reading) was that Wendy is exactly as I hoped she would be! She is awesome!
  • When we are first introduced to Peter Pan he seemed older and more mature than he is normally portrayed, but the more you get to know him the more you see his childish side.
  • At first The Wendy didn’t feel like a Peter Pan re-telling, but the farther we get into the story, the more it follows the traditional storyline.
  • I really like the writing.  Its rare that I notice the writing style, but I really like it in this story.  Its lighthearted and intriguing.  Its told as if the narrator is talking to you and its hard to explain, but I like it!
  • I am a little worried that there is a LOT that needs to happen to complete and not enough book left to complete it in! I am 70% of the way through! I can’t wait to see how everything plays out and I really hope it doesn’t end with the story unfinished!
  • Also what happened to Charlie?

I am reading The Wendy as part of Reader Fox’s April Readalong! If you want to participate its not to late to join! The Wendy is a fairly easy read so it should be easy to get caught up!

Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda (Audiobook)

by: Becky Albertalli

Narrated by: Michael Crouch

Simon

I am only 16% of the way through Simon.  I listened to it on the way home from work last night and the way to work this morning.

  • I like it so far!
  • Martin seems like a jerk, and I don’t like him, and it bugs me that Abby might be mislead into being with him
  • I want to know who Blue is!  I don’t think Simon’s prediction is right because that would be too easy, I think it will be a twist.
  • I want to know more about Nora, she seems like she is going to be super important.
  • I don’t like the voice of the guy narrating, he is kind of annoying.

My thoughts on The Wendy were a lot more in depth haha, but I am a lot further into it.

Have you read either of these? Did you like them?  Please no spoilers!

by PerfectlyTolerable

First Impression Friday – Godsgrave

Hey all! This is a new meme created by J.W. Martin.  In his own words here is what the meme is:

FIF

I LOVE this idea for a meme! Its super awesome!! But my only issue is that I try to only post once a day and I also LOVE the Friday Face-Off meme.  I don’t know if I want to do both?! I don’t know if I have time to do both?! But I want to do both?! So for now I will do both, and see how it goes!!!!  Maybe I can do this one an Saturdays in the future? (Friday Face-Off is themed weekly so it makes the most sense to keep that one on Friday) But, like I said, we will see how it goes! (Also I don’t start a new book every week so that could influence it) (But I love this meme idea!) (How many after-thoughts can I put in parenthesis before it gets weird?) (Is 5 to many?)(Probably!)

Anyway. Here is the book I just started:

Godsgrave

by Jay Kristoff

godsgrave

I am on page 70 of 437.  I am 16% of the way through.  So far I am liking it, and I can’t wait to see what happens!

chow yun fat yes GIF-downsized_large

Just like in Nevernight there are lots of footnotes, which I like, but they are longer in this book and it feels a little like the author got good feedback on them and is now overdoing it a little in Godsgrave.

No Way Shut Up GIF by THE NEXT STEP-downsized_large.gif

At the beginning of Nevernight you had two stories told in tandem; jumping back and fourth between the two.  But it was fairly short and only lasted about a chapter.  Godsgrave starts out the same way, but 70 pages in the two stories are still alternating.  It is driving me nuts! I didn’t mind it in Nevernight because the stories were told with overlapping but opposite actions (its hard to explain you have to read it), and it was really cool!  But in Godsgrave they are unrelated to each other.  I didn’t mind it at first but as I get pulled farther into the stories it is becoming annoying.  I have to switch mindsets every time it switches and I have to remember what was happening in the other story.  Its like reading two books where I switch every time something exciting is about to happen.  Its getting really frustrating!

Annoying Rant GIF by @SummerBreak-downsized_large

Despite all that, I am still really excited and still have high hopes! I loved Nevernight and so far I am loving both stories in Godsgrave!  I can’t wait to find out what happens! But I hope this formatting doesn’t continue the whole story! (Tho I fear it will)

kimmy schmidt good luck GIF by Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt-downsized_large