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Readers reading: a photo break.

Good morning, dears.

It’s been sort of an unusual week – as you probably guessed if you saw me tweeting about what to wear for funerals in the snow – so I decided to go totally off script today and just show you pictures of readers reading: people, animals, statues, Science Fiction villains, etc.

Readers reading books. Via Diamonds in the Library,

Click through to my Pinterest board for sources.

If you’re hankering for a book review today, check out my index of past reads here.

What I’m reading: Vol 12.

What I'm reading
Nightstand: Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout. I like this book, but it’s gotten so sad near the end that I keep needing to take breaks.

Coffee table: Seraphina by Rachel Hartman. A new(ish) fave that I’m rereading. I have a Book Riot post brewing in my head about this one, but it might involve stronger personal feelings than I’m willing to talk about on the internet.

Kindle: A Highly Unlikely Scenario, or a Neetsa Pizza Employee’s Guide to Saving the World: A Novel by Rachel Cantor. This book is either nonsense or totally brilliant. I’m more than halfway through and  still don’t know which.

Audiobook: Song of the Lioness #3: The Woman Who Rides Like A Man (The Song of the Lioness) by Tamora Pierce. FINALLY have this back after my library loan expired and I had to get back on the wait list!

Internets:

Here’s an interview with the minds behind the gorgeous jewelry line, Sylva & Cie.

I am loving this post about the glories of the great Donna Meagle. TREAT YO’ SELF.

Presented without comment: bridesmaids in rompers.

This “Avoid humans” app is pretty self-explanatory.

Yay, Ke$ha!! Welcome back. You’re still my fave.

My buddies at Mervis Diamonds are leading the charge for marring bling equality! There’s a paragraph about them in this WSJ article.

Would you ever pick out a perfume online? Pinrose claims to have found a way to help guide people to their ideal scent through a quiz that involve a series of photo/feelings associations.

Manor of Secrets by Katherine Longshore.

My review of Manor of Secrets by Katherine Longshore, a YA novel set in a Downton Abbey-like world of historical intrigue. Via Diamonds in the Library.

Manor of Secrets by Katherine Longshore.

This book is: unremarkable.
Other elements: class differences, rich people acting badly.
Read it: if you like the idea of very watered down Downton Abbey.
Overall rating: 4.25/10

This book did absolutely nothing for me. From page one, everything that I expected to happen happened. Every character did what I thought they would do for the usual reasons. Nothing stood out as original, remarkable, or noteworthy.

As with many upstairs/downstairs types of stories, Manor of Secrets centered upon a privileged character and her lower class foil. In this case, the privileged character was revoltingly selfish, short-sighted, naive, and stupid. The lower class foil character was less selfish, but even more naive and short-sighted. Serious cases of TSTL all around.The turn-of-the-century manor house setting – which is what drew me in, to be honest – flat entirely flat.

I just didn’t understand the author’s goal in setting this story in the past and then having the characters use words like “stellar,” and sing songs that were written in the 1960’s. It was jarring and off-putting to find myself wondering mid-novel if it was supposed to be satire or not (the verdict: not). Maybe those elements were written out before the final version went to publication;I certainly hope so.
In short: I picked this up hoping that it would be a fun, mindless read. I was half right, but sadly not the half that would mean I enjoyed myself. If it had been longer, this would be a DNF.I would also not be me if I didn’t tell you that the clunky pearl necklace the girl on the cover is wearing is wildly uncharacteristic for a young heiress in the era in which this ostensibly takes place. She should be wearing something like this or this or this.

My thanks to NetGalley and Scholastic for providing me with a copy of this book for review.


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