Hey guys, and welcome to Olivia's Catastrophe.
I am Olivia and today I'm here to give you
my March wrap up. So in the month of March
I read 20 books and I read one novella which
I'm not really counting in the 20 books but
I am going to mention it in the wrap up. So,
let's get right on to talking about the books.
First thing that happened in March was that
there was the Fantasy Favourites read-a-thon
which I cohosted along with some wonderful
bloggers and for that read-a-thon I read The
Knife of Never Letting Go trilogy by Patrick
Ness. And I just cannot handle it. I rated
each and every book in this series 5 stars
and this is a new favourite of mine. I can't
believe I waited this long to read it. So
this series, or at least the first one follows
Todd who comes from this futuristic place
called Prentisstown. And in this world there's
only men and every single man has his thoughts
told out loud. You can hear every single thing
that every single person is thinking and they
call it the Noise. And of course, if you live
in a town, there is a lot of Noise all of
the time. However, one day Todd goes wandering
off into the forest or the wood and there
he finds a girl. Which is amazing because
there are no girls left in Prentisstown and
as well as this, the girl has no Noise. You
cannot hear her thoughts. So that's the premise
for the first one. And then it gets better
in the second one and gets better in the last
one. And you're just left thinking, 'how does
this author do it?' The author really has
an amazing way with words and themes. The
themes in this one are so so deep. And even
though it's a young adult sci-fi dystopian
kind of book, I bet you could sit down and
really analyse this one and the writing style
and everything. He also writes in the dialect
that the characters speak. So there's spelling
mistakes. I don't know how to explain it so
be prepared for it not to be the conventional
English that you know. But it's still very
easy to read and know what they're saying.
The setting is very well done.The action is
so well done and I absolutely loved Todd.
And the secondary characters in this series
literally blow my mind. I fell in love with
almost everyone. It is just so so good. If
you follow me on Twitter I've been shouting
about it there and I am going to shout about
it some more in another video because this
series needs a video dedicated to how wonderful
it is. All five stars. Such a brilliant way
to start off my month.
And then also for the Fantasy Favourites read-a-thon
I managed to read A Darker Shade of Magic
by V.E. Schawb which I buddy read with AbiMackReads.
This one is set in this world where there
are three Londons. Red London, White London
and Grey London.And there used to be a London
called Black London. But that one has been
shut away and locked off. So there's two magicians
who I believe are the last of their kind called
Antari and they can travel between Londons.
However, everybody else has to say in their
own Londons. But when this stone appears,
which is this stone from Black London, which
is a London of bad magic, Kell is left to
get rid of it. This book was a bit of a disappointment
to me. Not that it was a bad book. It was
okay. But there was a lot of hype around this
one so I expected it to be amazing and it
just wasn't for me. I think I liked the characters
and I liked the plot well enough. It was quite
predictable to me. I just liked things but
I didn't really care. Like, there was some
suspense but I wasn't needing to turn those
pages and yeah, things happened the way I
expected them to happen.There was also quite
a pattern to how things happened. But I also
think more people liked this one more than
I did. The setting is great though. I liked
the idea of new Londons and all of that jazz.
So after the readathon I kept on reading and
I buddy read The Seven Husbands of Evelyn
Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid with Jade from
Jaded Reader. It was great to buddy read with
her because she just helped me love this book
all the more. And I am completely on the bandwagon
with everyone's hype and I gave this book
five stars. So if you don't know already this
one follows Evelyn Hugo who is this famous
actress and she hires this very little, not
very well known journalist to be the one to
talk about her life and tell her whole life
story. However, the journalist doesn't know
why she has been chosen for this when no one
else has been able to have such an exclusive
interview. And it is just very interesting
to hear about Evelyn Hugo because in her life
she has had seven husbands. Now I feel like
I could really deep dive into this book because
there is so much you could bring up. I discovered
that when I was buddy reading with Jade and
we were discussing it back and fourth. But
this one ha sgreat LGBT+ rep and discussions
and it also was just soo well written. The
author knows how to create suspense even though
it's a character driven book, throw in a plot
twist that you did not see coming. And also
Evelyn Hugo's character develops and it is
amazing. It's also quite feministic. Feministic?
Feminist. Love love loved it. It was such
a brilliant reading experience and I wanted
to keep turning the pages the whole time.
Next up this book I was supposed to read in
blackathon but I didn't get around to it so
now instead I finished Pride by Ibi Zoboi.
And I really liked it! I don't like Pride
and Prejudice and I haven't read a Pride and
Prejudice retelling yet that I've managed
to enjoy. Until now! This one's set in this
neighbourhood which is a bit run down, which
is a bit ghetto as some people would like
to describe it. Zuri lives there with her
big family: her sisters and her mum and dad.
And she's very proud of her neighbourhood
and she loves repping it and she loves living
there. It's Afro-Latinx culture by the way.
But when Darcy and his family move in across
the road they are kind of gentrifying the
neighbourhood because they buy this big mansion
and they do it all up, and they build it up
from the ground and they clearly do not fit
in to the hood and the lifestyle. And from
there it kind of is a Pride and Prejudice
remix retelling kind of thing. And I liked
it. I liked all the Afro-Latinx rep. I liked
all the descriptions of food. I really liked
the - the themes that were included like the
gentrification and about racism and about
classism and things like that. I really enjoyed
that. And I actually understood the character
development of Darcy. Mostly I don't find
it believe but in this one I kind of got where
it was coming from. I liked how they updated
things. I liked seeing the big family. But
the romance, I didn't love it. I didn't hate
it. I just thought I would enjoy this book
for the romance because people enjoy Pride
and Prejudice for the romance but I actually
enjoyed it for the themes and the storyline
and the representation more than anything
else. It was still a very good read and I
quite enjoyed this one.
Then I listened to Harry Potter and the Half
Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling. I listened to
this on audiobook and I didn't like it, again.
One more book to go and then I'm done. I'm
not really going to tell you about this one
because I don't have much to say. Other than,
once again -- I sound like a broken record
but -- Stephen Fry's narration is amazing.
This book, nothing happens until the end and
then a lot happens. And even though Harry
Potter is the main character he doesn't seem
to have much agency in changing anything that
happens. Like, he doesn't seem to be able
to do much to effect the storyline and the
plot that is revolving around him. So it seems
a bit weird that he is the main character
chosen. Yeaah, I just don't really care about
anything. Although I do like Molly Weasley
and Professor McGonagall and I wish they were
included more in this book. There's plenty
of pages, they could've been included more,
okay.
Then for uni I read There Are More Beautiful
Things Than Beyonce by Morgan Parker. This
is a poetry collection and I really did enjoy
it. The poems focus on black culture, on feminism,
on racism and discrimmination and all of that
kind of jazz. Things about being female and
about being black. And about, y'know, the
moden life and living in this life. I had
quite a few favourites. It was a good collection
and as someone who struggles with modern day
poems this one was really good.
Then I read Big Bones by Laura Dockrill and
this one was sent to me for review by Hot
Key Books so thank you very much. Big Bones
follows this main character who is a fat girl
and she doesn't mind being a fat girl and
she loves to eat food. And she's proud of
it and she's happy being herself. Her family
accept her. But when she goes to the doctor
the doctor tells her she needs to lose weight
maybe. And to find out more about why she
needs to lose weight she should keep a food
diary and this is her food diary. However,
it doesn't quite really read like a food diary.
But this one was really bad and then really
good. I've never felt so torn in the beginning.
For the first half of this book I wanted to
rip it into pieces, I wanted to throw the
book away because the writing style is so
bad. It's so throw in your face, it's so over
the top and overdone. And I thought wowww,
how did this get published? I hate when I
think that but I couldn't help it. However,
the second half of this book the writing style
calms down and it become really good and it
unfolds into this really important story about
family relationships. And there's quite a
complex family dynamic in this one. About
loving yourself and your appearance and still
being able to love food. Y'know, just some
really good themes of like, weight and beauty
and introversion and thinking about yourself
in respect to how other people think about
you. However, there was one thing I didn't
like about this book other than the beginning
and that was the fact that the main character
was all about telling herself that she doesn't
want other people to judge her based on her
appearance. She doesn't want them to think
she's a fat girl and then think certain stereotypes
about her. However, when she is going to try
out the gym and she goes to the desk she sees
this thin fit woman at the desk and immediately
she's thinking bad thoughts about that woman
based on the fact that she is: a) working
at the gym and b) thin. And it seems like
such a double standard! It just bothers me
that you have that sometimes in these books.
But I kind of had mixed feelings and I am
going to do a full review of this one on my
blog.
Then I read Refuge for Masterminds by Kathleen
Baldwin. This is the third one in a series.
And this third one, well, I'll tell you about
the first book in the series. It follows this
-- follow these girls who go to this peculiar
school. People think that when they send their
daughters to this school they are sent to
a prison where they are going to be ironed
out and returned as these, y'know, girls who
adhere to society because all of these girls
are girls who stand out and are peculiar in
some way so they get sent there by their parents
or relatives. However, this school is actually
a school to make these teenage girls into
spies to work for the crime of England. And
also as well as that they learn how to blend
in to society as well. So all of these girls
have different talents. For example one of
them is really interested in science -- oh
by the way, it's set in like the 1800s England
which is why a girl interested in science
is sent to such a school -- one of them has
very weird dreams which seems to tell the
future and one of them is just basically a
genius, and lots of different reasons. This
one has been my favourite one in the series
so far. There's always a romance so it's like
historical... it's alternate historical fiction,
romance, action. And I just think the author
blends those three genres really very well.
In this one the romance was so so good. It
kind of was like enemies to lovers but not
really enemies to lovers... more like dislike
to - dislike to lovers. And the banter that
they had was so cute and so funny. I was smiling
when I was reading this book. I was laughing
when I was reading this book. The action in
this one was really good as well, and it was
really believable. And I was like: ooh, these
are quite high stakes and I'm enjoying this.
And of course the setting, and the female
friendships, are very well done. In this one
the theme of trust, and the theme of love
is really important. But not love in just
the relationship sense, but in the sense of
family and why people are loveable or not
love.
Okay, let's take a break from me holding up
physical books to talk about some of the ebooks
that I read. So the first one I want to mention
is Notes on A Nervous Planet by Matt Haig
and I feel a bit mixed about this one. Like,
it was very very good and it's a nonfiction
book where he talks about technology and how
technology is affecting our mental health.
And just, it was really good and he explains
things really clearly. And he gives suggestions
for things you can do to improve your mental
health or your relationship with technology.
And he's talking from his own personal experience.
And sometimes he throws in poetry and he does
things creatively, which I really did like.
However, for a book that is kind of about
combating anxiety relating to technology,
it felt very anxiety inducing to read this
book. Like, I don't have anxiety but reading
this book it made me feel quite anxious and
tense. However, by the time you get to the
end of the book you feel really calm and serene
and like you're ready to take on the world.
So reading this book felt like having an anxiety
attack and then having the freedom of, y'know,
no anxiety at the end. Which is just a bit...
like... do I recommend this to people who
have anxiety because of technology, or would
this reading experience not be enjoyable for
them? So I kind of have a mixed feeling about
this one. But I do think it's really worthwhile
reading and it's changed my relationship with
technology a bit.
Then I should've read this in blackathon too.
I read American Dreamer by Adriana Herrera.
Which is this romance set in America where
this Afro-Latinx man is going to start having
a food truck in this smaller town in America
and he is really focused on his small business
coming off the ground. However, he meets Jude
who is this really American person who is
quite interested in the Afro-Caribbean culture.
And they kind of have a romance going on.
I thought this book was really good. I really
really enjoyed the m/m relationship. I really
did enjoy the -- how the romance unfolded.
I liked that you didn't just see the build
up to the romance but they actually get into
the relationship and you get to see them go
over some of the struggles that they have
in the relationship. And it also does a very
good job of mentioning lightly some themes
of discrimmination, growing a small business
and some other really important themes like
friendship and religious homophobia. But at
the same time, however, it's not about those
struggles, it's about the romance, clearly.
So if you want a book where you see black
characters being happy, that's nice. I also
like that actually he didn't describe himself
as black, but described himself as brown because
of Latinx. And I just liked that distinction.
It just felt like hmm, I liked it. The only
thing I didn't like were the explicit scenes
which is weird because usually I like the
explicit scenes but in this one, personal
preference, they just didn't work for me.
Then let's talk about the two Shakespeare
plays I read for uni. The first one was The
Tempest which was about this king and his
daughter who are stuck on this island and
these other people end up on this island and
they're the ones who trapped them there. So
they kind of set on doing this revenge and
it's all really weird. And I just didn't like
it. It didn't feel like very good Shakespeare.
It really was quite expositional and I really
didn't care about what was happening.There
was insta love and it was all just a bit not
really my type of thing. It was quite a short
play in comparison to some others but yeah,
I just feel like Shakespeare has better plays
but the writing style was really beautiful.
Then I read The Winter's Tale by Shakespeare
and again, this is another one that's a bit
weird but it worked and I really enjoyed it.
So, it's about this king who is convinced
that his wife is cheating on him with his
best friend. So then he kind of like, throws
a tantrum. And he sentences... he imprisons
his wife and things go down from there. And
then these shephards are involved and it just
turns into this whole drama. It was funny
at some times, it was sweet, it had this whole
ending. I don't know how to describe this
play but I really enjoyed it. And I don't
usually enjoy the weird and whacky ones like
this. And the writing is once again, beautiful.
C'mon, it's Shakespeare.
I listened to the audiobook Killer By Nature
by Jan Smith. And this one felt like listening
to a tv show because it was an investigator
mystery, murder mystery. It has a full cast
and it felt so British to hear all these British
accents. And it was really good actually.
I enjoyed listening to it because it just
felt like listening to a tv show. But I didn't
think that the mystery was that engaging.
I didn't think the mystery was that amazing.
But it was just so much fun to listen that
I was enjoying it.
Next up I read Rise of The Dawnstar by Farah
Oomberhoy. This is the second book in a fantasy
series and both of these books have been just
okay. It's quite stereotypical fantasy all
the way through. She's a chosen one. There's
this villain in this fantasy world. Fae are
involved in her training. She's half mage
half fae and she needs to learn how to master
her powers. She comes across these different
evil things like demons, like werewolves.
They need to fight them and she needs to work
up to fighting the queen, etc, etc. You get
it. It's got all the usual things. There's
nothing really unique in this one. You see
the same chosen one story, marriage politics,
battles, that you always see. And the writing
isn't spectacular but it's a decent enough
read.
Then I read two mysteries by Ngaio Marsh - by
Ngaio Marsh. So the first one was Death and
the Dancing Footman and I rated it five stars.
It was a brilliant murder mystery. It was
so great. If you like And Then There Were
None by Agatha Christie then you should read
this one because it's that same kind of -- got
that same vibe. So this one is set in this
isolated house where all these dinner guests
are invited to a dinner party. And the person
who invited them all is going to be there
too. However, it snows very heavily and all
the guests kind of have to stay in the house.
But the person knows that all of these guests
have problems with each other. None of them
like each other because of problems that they've
had in the past. Which all kind of interlink.
So when one of them dies they all have motivations
for killing said person. It takes a while
for the person to die but because there is
so much drama because of all their entangled
relationships before the death, I didn't even
mind. But it took a while and even then I
didn't guess who did it or how they did it.
And it was just so so great. It was legit
so much drama and I was here for it. And the
mystery was so well done. Ngaio Marsh does
really good writing and I was so satisfied
with that mystery.
So then because I had to read the first two
in this bind up for uni I decided to read
the last one just for like, the lols because
I enjoyed the first two. And that was Colour
Scheme by Ngaio Marsh and this was the most
disappointing one of my bind up because I
enjoyed it the least. It's set in New Zealand
so it's nice to have a different setting for
a murder mystery. And again, it takes a while
for the person to die. However, I didn't care
about the fact that it took a while, and I
also knew who was going to die. So it was
just waiting for it to happen. I'd also guessed
whodunnit before we got there, so it was a
bit like, hmm, predictable. And it was good
to have some native representation because
there are natives on the island however, they're
not that big of a point of the plot. This
one just felt a bit boring and I didn't like
any of the characters. Sooo... that was it.
Oh, also there's one female character that's
eligible and everyone kind of throws themselves
at her, and they treat her really badly like
a child. And none of the romances felt believable
in this one so... that's that.
And the last two books. Thanks for holding
on with me! So we have She Bakes the Cakes
by Samantha Rose. This was an indie published
book and it was really good. It -- don't let
the cover or the 'She Bakes the Cakes' title
fool you. This is a dark thriller kind of
book. It's about this self-sufficent town
which is isolated from the rest of the world.
Nobody's allowed in. However, on the release
day there was some drama that went down and
journalists were like: ooh, why was this person
acting this way? And when this one journalist
is permitted into this town to do an interview
with the owner she finds that not everything
is as perfect as it may seem on the cover.
And there's something dark going on in this
town. I thought this was really good. I was
about to predict one of the mysteries and
plot things that needed to be unpacked. But
I didn't mind that I guessed one of them.
And, yeah, I didn't feel very close to the
characters but I did like them all. It's definitely
more a plot driven book but the plot is really
good. And I was very happy reading this one.
I read it all in a day, that's how good it
was.
Oh yeah, I also read The Ask and The Answer
in a day. It was very addictive.
And the last book I am going to mention is
The Influential Author by Gregory V. Diehl.
This is a nonfiction textbook kind of thing
about how to write, publish and sell self-published
fiction that matters. I don't plan on self-publishing
but I still wanted to read this one because
there's some writing advice in it. I thought
this was a very good nonfiction book. For
someone who has been a blogger for a couple
of years and when I first started blogging
I read a lot of self published books and indie
books. And I read a lot of good ones but I
read a lot of bad ones and I think a lot of
those books and authors could've benefitted
from reading this first. You don't have to
read it cover to cover like I did, because
it's quite a textbook read so you could jump
in, get what you need, and jump back out.
Refer to it like that. That's how you should
really read this one. Not like I did. But
even reading it like I did, I enjoyed it,
and I think it could be useful to a lot of
self-published authors to read this before
they self-published.
There you have it! Those are the twenty books
I read in March. Please let me know in the
comment section down below if you have read
any of these or if you plan to. Or what was
your favourite read of March? Apologies for
the blocked nose if I sound a bit off. I'm
still quite ill but I'm recovering. Please
give this video a thumbs up if you enjoyed
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Goodbye!
