Hello dear readers,

Today, I’m going to share one of the pieces I’ve published on Book Riot.  We will return to our regularly scheduled book reviews next week.

(Image source.)

Lending a book to a friend always seems like a wonderful idea. You get to feel like a magnanimous literary Yenta and your friend enjoys the privilege of reading the free book that you carefully selected just for her.

But there is a dark side. I’m all too familiar with that moment when I accept a book I’d lent out and discover that it doesn’t look anything like it did when I last held it. Rips, spills, broken bindings; many are the mishaps that can befall a borrowed book. I understand that creases are a part of life, but when I lend you one of my books, I am trusting you to care for it as if it were your own.

The uncertainty ends today.

For the protection of your books and mine, I offer the following document. Never again will we hold a returned book in our hands, wondering why it is in two pieces when previously it was only one.

I ______________, (“the borrower”) hereby apply to borrow a book from ___________ (“the owner”). I recognize that book borrowing is a privilege administered on a case-by-case basis by the owner, and that borrowing one book does not mean I will be permitted to borrow future books. By signing below, I agree to be held responsible for the following conditions.

To read the full contract, please click through to Book Riot here.

Have you entered my giveaway yet? You could win a free pair of diamond earrings!

       

Shadow and Bone & Siege and Storm (Grisha trilogy books 1 and 2) by Leigh Bardugo.

Overall rating: 9.5

So, this is a first: a review of two books at the the same time. It’s not ideal, but I feel that I have no choice since I only paused for about 3 minutes (at most) between reading the entire first book and the entire second book. Which tells you a lot about how invested I was in the story.

The basis of this series is not an uncommon one in fantasy: a person who thinks she is average discovers she has some kind of occult power and therefore a greater destiny. It is a classic premise and one that I love. In Smoke and Bone and Siege and Storm, this is accomplished with glorious finesse. The writing is good, the characters are engaging, and the world is creative and fascinating. The plot is a roller coaster; I was taken entirely by surprise more than once, which you know is basically my favorite thing. I am also seriously crushing on at least two of the main male characters.

The characters are also very complex, and I don’t just mean the main characters. Even peripheral characters have complicated motivations and clearly have multi-faceted thoughts and feelings about their lives. Except, possibly, for the classic “mean girl” character, but maybe there’s more to come from her in the third book. Either way, she serves her purpose and I don’t mind.

This series is somewhat guilty of a trope that irritates me conceptually: that of an unattractive female protagonist who becomes attractive by the end of the book. Do women always have to be beautiful to achieve great things? I say no. However, the way that Leigh (I’ve decided we’re on first name terms now because she tweeted me) accomplishes this in the Grisha books actually makes sense with the universe of the story, and the way that everything plays out makes me forgive it. I would say more but I don’t want to ruin the surprise.

I can’t help but notice that every book I’ve given a 9.5 or above features a strong female protagonist who can do some kind of magic. Apparently I know what I like, and what I like is girl power.

I’m not sure what else I can tell you. I read these books straight through. If your taste is anything like mine, read these as soon as possible.

Have you entered my giveaway yet? You could win a free pair of diamond earrings!

Sweet Tooth by Ian McEwan

This book is: dull and irritating.
Other elements: pleasing men, washing smalls in a bedsit, poetry, the Russians, Britain in the 1970’s.
Read it: if you’re having trouble falling asleep, or if you like spy stories but prefer to remain very calm at all times.
Overall rating:  4/10

I was excited to read this book for two reasons: first, because McEwan’s Atonement is glorious, and second, because this novel is about a lady secret agent. I imagined a sharp, driven heroine, an engaging protagonist I would admire and hunger to know everything about.

I was wrong.

It was a pretty bleak slog though this one, but there were bright – or less dim – points. As part of Serena’s adventures (I use that word sarcastically) she gets to do some reading. The reader is treated to several of the short stories that she selects, and they’re really quite good. It’s a shame they’re stuck inside such an unappealing framework. But there was a bonus: one of these fictional stories was supposed to have been published in The Kenyon Review, the fabulous literary magazine I had the honor of working for as an undergrad. Kenyon pride!

The novel ends with a big reveal. It’s clearly meant to be shocking, but I was so tired of the characters by that point that I was just excited that the book appeared to be almost over. That, and the letter that the heroine receives which contains the reveal goes on for pages and pages; I skimmed large parts of it, just like I did the novel.

I’ll let the main character conclude this review of Sweet Tooth by Ian McEwan herself:

Me too, Serena. Me too.