Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

Lima: Hardcover (read while drinking Not Your Father’s Root Beer) (is totally an alcoholic)

Antz: Audio book (read while not drinking alcohol because she is not an alcoholic)

Lima: Hello!

Antz: Hiiiiiiiii! So did you like it?

Lima: Basically, I loved this book so much, I wanted to run away with it and have little book babies and have a quiet, tasteful book wedding in a house similar to the one from the book.  
Antz: Ummmm… That’s a lot of love! I doubt you would have a quiet wedding though, with all the peculiar guests and the war. Lol I liked it too! I don’t know if I would have book babies with it, but it was good. It was an original story and an original take on the orphan problems of WWII.

I felt like I missed out with the audio book though!

Lima: Yes. I will have to say the pictures are beautiful and bring a whole new depth to it. I’m not sure if the audio book covers this but all those pictures were taken from yard sales and flea markets, pictures which would have otherwise been discarded. The author asked his photography fans to uncover these pictures and he’d select some for the book. All the pictures, all haunting and lovely, were real and would have been forgotten to time without the author.

Antz: Awwww, that’s such a nice thing! So the entire book was written about these pictures that were found? That’s pretty amazing. The audio book does not cover this. It comes with a .pdf file with the pictures, supposedly, but I never found it on my Scribd. Also, I listen while I drive to and from work, so it would not have worked.

Lima: I was exceptionally impressed for a first time novelist to be honest. I know he had skill as a photographer but to get out an original story, that spans decades and times, covers life perfectly in this part of Florida to the fogs of England...he is a talented man and I expect so much more from him.

Lima: This book will be turned into a movie, upcoming in September 2016. I’m excited because I understand some of it was shot here locally in Tampa, FL.  I swear if Tim Burton screws up the movie….me and my book babies are writing him a strongly worded letter.

Antz: Tim Burton can do no wrong, and I am SO EXCITED for the movie. Although by the trailer we can totally see a lot of stuff will be changed already.

Antz: The ONLY thing about the book that I was a little iffy about, is that the second half of the book is pretty predictable (as in, who’s the bad guy and what the kid is gonna do and whatever).

Lima: That brings me to a different question. Would you classify this as YA? Because in certain stores, I’ve seen it marketed as both. I believe he beautifully captures the essence of awkward, spoilt, suburban American youth.

Antz: I would. The writing is pretty YA. What would you classify it as?

Lima: There are times I could see it as both regular fiction and young adult...as I said he really captures being a young kid seeing things others don’t understand. That could be applicable to any age group, from a father reading the book and seeing his son in it, to us reading it and relating to the awkwardness of teenage years not too long ago.

Antz: Yeah, but isn’t all YA innately relatable to? We have all been through that period of life, which is why I think so many adults read YA - because they relate to the experiences, like anguished love, or rebellion.

Lima: Maybe what I’m trying to say is that it’s better written YA than Twilight or Red Queen? Which annoys me that I’d think that because is it because the narrator is male and most YA is female narrated?

Antz: There are tons of YA better written than Twilight - by both men AND women. So I would not pin this on the gender of the author. I think he is just talented and his story is highly captivating.

Lima: Wait, I’m confused? I meant the narrator, the kid telling the story is a dude? Not the author?

Antz: OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH, yeah I read that wrong. Hahahaha That’s cause you’re more of a boy than a girl. Lol Jk! I honestly could not really say I related to him, except in the sadness he felt for his losses.

Lima: Man, I must totally have a penis because I WAS him. Everything from the sadness, to his family thinking he was crazy, to not knowing how to speak to his father discussing his marriage...Omg, I’m a man.

Antz: Let’s name your penis! Hahaha ok, we are getting off track. Final judgement?

Lima: Obviously it’s already named Beowulf….Love. Book babies. 4/5.

Antz: What?! If you wanna have book babies and you are only giving it a 4...I wanna know what a 5/5 is worth! I agree with a 4 star rating.

Lima: I have intense standards!! And probably Harry Potter lol but the first 3.

Antz: So basically you gotta have a magic wand to earn a 5 with you. Got it. Take note, readers!  

tl;dr: Great read, makes you wanna have book babies, great writing.

4 out of 5 stars

Read below for a review of the drinks we paired with this review!

“THE BREWS”

The Soda That Wanted to be Beer: Not Your Father’s Root Beer

This brew was very good and what I first pictured as a 4 year old when I thought about “root beer,” thinking there was booze in it for some reason (what type of 4 year old thinks of beer?). It is a little on the sweet side as a fair warning so essentially, it begs to be made into a float! I didn’t have the right ice cream to do this but with the spice, vanilla and carbonation, the only advice I can provide is keep track of your intake, one bottle packs a nice buzz! (She texted me after 5… it was quite entertaining)

The Non-Alcoholic Brew

I was actually not drinking this as I read the book, but I am drinking it now, so it’s a winner! This tea is DELICIOUS. Especially if you are looking for non-caffeinated, herbal teas. Yes, yes, I know - no real tea should come in a bag and be made with microwaved water - but whatever, I am at the office and this is the best I can do! Do not judge me. The smell of the tea is a bit earthy, but do not let that put you off to trying it. With a bit of honey, it sweetens right up and it’s worth it (Judged).

The Scorpio Races

The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater

Lima: Hardcopy
Antz: Audiobook

Lima: Ok. Let me actually start by asking how you liked this book. 

Antz: I did like the book! Did you not like the book? It was a little slower than the introduction promised me it would be, but I enjoyed it. I felt that it took its time to develop the characters. And the voice of Sean in the audiobook was...perfect. I had an issue with the voice of Puck, but I got over it after a while. Did you not like it? 

Lima: I was SO bored by this book, no matter how hard I tried to like it. I was honestly sitting there like, how does one make DOG EATING HORSES boring. I’m not sure...but she managed. There was also so much...not quite sorrow but the overall tone of the book was kind of a downer. I’m not against downers, however, this one just bored me so much that by the time I was finished, I didn’t even care that there was a “downer” tone. Side note, I expect the voice of Sean to be deep and mysterious and just beautiful lol. 

Antz: hahaha It was!!!! It was dark and mysterious and I just wanted to hug him the WHOLE time...and maybe do other things. But that made me feel like a perv cause he is younger than me. I see how you could have been bored though, I felt the same at the beginning….but little by little it won me over. 

Lima: Honestly, it is quite possible I was this bored BECAUSE I read it. On paper, this was almost as rough for me to get through as some of the stuff we read in grad school. The denseness...the DENSENESS. 

Antz: See but that’s part of what I liked. YA books have become so… NOT dense… At all. Like, I can predict the plot in about 2 chapters. What I like about this one is that it was dense enough to actually develop the scenery and the world and the characters. There was no “OH! I see you once in my life and I am head over heels in love for you” thing… Lol 

Lima: I get that. And I will be the first to say that this author has some writing chops for suresies. A lot of it was beautiful and the language is something I would have expected from not YA. The images, the setting, there were some lines just depicting the night that were just perfect. But I also had issues with the “world” as you mentioned as for the life of me, I could not place this in my head. There are horse races and everyone is kind of poor...but cars are a thing, they mention America, it is obviously not some fantasy land where this stuff doesn’t exist. The fact I couldn’t place it after nearly 60 pages in annoyed me. 

Antz: hahaha just cause it’s a fantasy story doesn’t mean it has to happen in another world. I pictured it as a little island off the coast of England, which I think is where the author meant for it to be. She is English, I think. But I love stories that are fantasies but are still rooted in places that are somewhat real. Like City of Bones! It’s all fantasy, but it’s in well known spaces.

Lima: I didn’t feel like enough of that was established. Like I open up and boom, there are these crazy, deathly, races. But there is also normal stuff. Even just a line of, “there was a time when the horses didn’t rise out of the sea but I don’t remember that world.” I do want to read more by this author...but something less dense and maybe set a bit better. Also, Sean is a great feminist! Lol 

Antz: hahahaha he is! He is the type of male lead I looooove. Dark and brooding, but empowering and totally sexy in a “fuck you, world” type of way. And you should! I’m addicted to her Raven Cycle series. It is a lot less dense, but still has some beautiful writing in it.

Lima: Lol dude...do you two need a moment... 

Antz: Yes please. *Goes off to re-read parts of it* hahahahaha jk, he’s a minor….I would get in trouble. Lol 

Lima: BY MY BLOOD DANGIT.

Antz: BY MY BLOOD!

Lima: Overall, the written version didn’t quite do it for me. I’m giving it a 2.5.

Antz: I liked the audio version, although I felt like the female voice made Puck seem SO MUCH YOUNGER than she was...it confused me at times. I give it a 3.5/5

Tl;dr: The audiobook is better. Sean is sexy. BY OUR BLOOD!

#Books #bookblog #bookreview #ScorpioRaces

#TwogirlsManyBooks #Reading #Readmore #Audiobooks #bookworms

Next Book for Review!

We have selected the next book for review: Maggie Stiefvater's The Scorpio Races. We have read Stiefvater's The Raven Cycle, and The Dream Thieves (and soon we will read the rest of that series), and loved them! So we decided to review something of hers that seems to be a little less known in the bookish community. 

We will start this week, and we look forward to sharing our thoughts and comments with you all! 

Have you read The Scorpio Races? If so, tell us your opinion! Are we in for a treat? We surely hope so! What other books would you like to see us review?

#books #bookblog #twogirlsandmanybooks #bookreviews #MaggieStiefvater #shouldthereevenbehashtagsinablog #bookworms #readingrocks #literature #lovetoread

Red Queen

Antz: Audiobook

Lima: Hard Copy

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Lima: So...how did you like the Hunger Games pt. 4?

Antz: I thought it did a very good job at fusing Hunger Games and Divergent together. But it did have some redeeming qualities! I liked the whole magic thing, and the audiobook version was beautifully narrated...even though I thought the main character’s name was Mayor the whole time lol You?

Lima: Mayor...of Whine Town...I sincerely wanted to like this book. I picked it for one thing lol but I’ve seen it on shelves for months, it seemed right up my alley. It’s got the kind of simplistic, stark, sexy cover that makes you know this book is about to be a big deal; something shiny with something deadly, what’s not to like? But it just fell so short for me. It was like X-Men meets YA lit. I wanted original, not a re-hash. Maybe it was different on audio but omg the main character seemed like a bag of constant whining about everything ** SPOILER ALERT** from leaving her home to being betrayed by a man who never really loved her to begin with...Those are two very different situations dude. Very. Different. **SPOILER ENDED**

Antz: I agree!!!! She did whine a lot, even in the audiobook version! The narrator was great though, she had clear character voices and her tone and pace were fantastic. It was not rushed or lagged. The same narrator does the second book as well, so that should be good.

Lima: It also bothered me that she had so few “good” qualities but landed in the lap of luxury. At least Katniss has a heart of gold and was likeable.

Antz: This did not bother me much...what bothered me was that…**SPOILER ALERT. STOP HERE IF YOU HAVE NOT READ THE BOOK. SCROLL DOWN TO THE NEXT NON-SPOILER SECTION MARKED BY A NON-SPOILER HEADER** here was a girl who has lived her entire life without any sort of training to control her ability and all of the sudden BAM there they are...without any explanation. Like… where were her abilities all these years? If she had no idea how to control them...she should’ve been shocking people left and right. ESPECIALLY cause she’s an emotional human and her abilities ignite with emotion. Also...that “love” for Cal was SO sudden...she knew him for about 3 seconds before she was already day dreaming. I think the book fell for the same mistakes a lot of YA authors fall for: Love triangle, quick love, and not enough character development.

Lima: I agree. I think they try to explain this with her brother’s DNA, as well as hers, is different but there are five kids and two parents. Really? She’s never noticed, no one else has experienced these things, she’s just a giant bucket of special? If this does end up being a whole “it’s in the DNA thing,” it can go one of two ways which is, in the next book, her sister will be married or a silver or whatnots, or, her whole family is dead. Lol she falls in love faster than me at 14, goodness. She’s just suddenly swarmed by men isn’t she.

Antz: Yes she is! Also, the whole “special without any rhyme or reason” reminded me a lot of Divergent, but I feel like Divergent did a better job at explaining it than this story. We shall see how it develops in the next books.

*SPOILERS OVER*

Lima: To me, some of the language itself was so similar to the Hunger Games, I was grinding my teeth. “...champion of our (?) people” and whole leaving home bit...Unfortunately, I think we’ve both seem too many poor books explode into something big. The Red Queen is too popular to not head in the same direction. However, it lacks originality and similar to how pop music in the 1990’s said, “how can I sacrifice quality writing and instruments for a quick and easy mass sell to a market who will buy all my crap…?” this author did the same to literature with this book.

Lima: IT’S THE BRITNEY SPEARS OF LITERATURE.

Antz: Hhahahaha, I can see that! There is a second book releasing in February (are we reading it?), and I think it will be a trilogy. You KNOW the movie is coming up probably too, cause the book is all over the place! But I did like SOME things. A few of the plot twists were very predictable, but a few of them I actually did not see coming. So it did keep me going for a bit. But I agree, too much fluff, not enough solid writing.

Lima: I see you Britney.

Antz: Ops. She did it again.

Lima: There are things she touches on that are nice and certainly important to impart on younger readers like people are people regardless of difference and the dangers of trusting too easy, but there were ways to do it without borrowing from other popular books.

Antz: I agree. I think the premise behind it was good, but the delivery was lacking. What’s your star rating for this one?

Lima: An overly generous 3. It’s possible that is because I LOVE Britney Spears…

Antz: I agree with this rating. 3 out of 5 seems fair.

tl;dr: The Britney Spears of Literature

***/5 for The Red Queen

#books #audiobooks #RedQueen #bookblog #bookstagram #bookreview #twogirlsmanybooks #sendusthingstoread #literature #read #lovetoread #britneyspearsoflit #books #lovebooks #bookworm

Welcome to our Blog!

Welcome! We are glad to have you! 

This here is our little effort at sharing with the world our reviews and conversations about the books we love. One of us will be listening to the audio book versions of the chosen book, while the other will read the physical copy. Throughout the reading experience, we will share with you our thoughts, random screenshots of our hilarious conversations, and overall reviews of the stories we read. This way you will gain a holistic critique of the story and its narration, as we have learned that some stories are not always fit to be audio books, but some were meant to be. We hope that we can incite in you a love for reading such as the one we share. If you are already passionate about it, we hope to share that with you as well! 

We are just starting up, so please bear with us as we figure out this whole blogging thing. Overall, we are here to have fun and enjoy the wonderful world of reading. 

Lets go on many adventures together! 

P.S.: Recommendations are welcomed! We like everything!