You know the drill by now, let’s get right into my five reads in March 2023! This will bring us to 12 out of 54 total books read this year.

This book was a re-read. I’ve owned this book since I was quite young, and I decided to come back to it as I waited for my books that I put on hold at my local library to be ready. The book was released in 1936 which makes me think it is set in the 1920s.

This book features three sisters, orphaned separately but adopted by a man called Great-Uncle Matthew who collects fossils. The three sisters, Pauline, Petrova, and Posy are left in the care of Great-Uncle-Matthew’s (G.U.M’s) niece Sylvia, and Sylvia’s nurse Nana. They are given the last name of Brown (Sylvia’s last name) but then since they are ‘of no real relation’ they choose the name of Fossil after GUM refers to them as such in a letter.

GUM left the girls money to live on, enough for five years since he’s on a big adventure to collect fossils with some friends. But once the money starts running out, Sylvia decides to take in boarders — people who will live in the house and pay them.

One of the boarders is a woman named Theo Dane, who works at the Children’s Academy of Dancing And Stage Training. Theo suggests that Sylvia send the three Fossil sisters to train there, because when they are older they can work in the theatre and get money to support their families.

At first, Sylvia is hesitant but once she is properly persuaded, the Fossil sisters work hard and prepare for a marvelous life on the ballet scene…

I love this book. I definitely have a different perspective on it as I did in the past, but the core of the story and the plot is still engaging and fun. The characters are all very intriguing, and the sisters have such different personalities – Pauline, being the oldest, is the more responsible mature one, Petrova is a tomboy, and Posy is the light-hearted determined youngest.

I give this book a five stars. For a book that came out in 1936 its quite easy to read and a great experience overall.

The Inheritance Games has been on my TBR for a while, but when I finally got to read it, I found it strangely underwhelming.

TIG follows the story of Avery Grambs, a high school girl who is suddenly left a vast fortune and a mansion (among many other rich-people things) from a guy named Tobias Hawthorne. She’s of no relation to the Hawthorne family, she barely knows they exist, and she’s been living with her older sister for a while.

But when she gets this inheritance, her life is suddenly turned upside down. The entire Hawthorne family (who all expected to get Tobias’ fortune) hates her. She moves into Hawthorne House, where live the four Hawthorne brothers and their family. She now has a lawyer, a security team, media coverage… all the works.

But… why?

Avery teams up with many various characters – the Hawthorne brothers, her lawyer, etc – and try to figure out why she is suddenly and viciously thrown into this new life?

I give this book a 3 star rating. There were many (almost two many) twists, and too much drama, not enough plot. The romance was not romance-ing, and also there were WAY too many red flags in the love interests. I know there’s a trope about brooding bad boy and how people find that interesting, but I can’t handle romance if the love interest is just going to end up being toxic.

And the ending definitely should’ve been way more interesting and clever than it was. It had a very ‘is that it?’ ending which left me disappointed, I’ll admit.

The writing is good and easy to follow, but these key plot devices brought the experience down for me. I don’t think I’ll finish the series.

Crier’s War: I cannot say enough good things about this book.

This book is told in two points of view: Ayla, a regular human girl, and Lady Crier, an Automa (essentially an automaton, a human being, but inorganic). Lady Crier is the daughter of the Sovereign, and Ayla is a servant. They live in the kingdom of Rabu.

Lady Crier is about to be engaged to Scyre Kinok, another Automa who plans to change the way their world and societal system is run (and he’s growing quite a following). Ayla wants nothing more than to kill Lady Crier as revenge, since Automae killed her family, ages ago.

After an unexpected situation in which Ayla ends up as Crier’s handmaiden, the two start realising how much they have in common, and how much they are falling for each other. On Ayla’s side, it’s a bit of an enemies-to-lovers situation. She’s supposed to kill Crier. She’s supposed to hate her and her entire kind… but it’s turning out to be quite the opposite. On Crier’s side, it’s a pining situation. Automa are supposed to be superior to humans, not fall in love with them.

I love this book. Well written, almost poetic in a way, similar to the Invisible Life of Addie LaRue. It’s easy to follow and immersive.

Sometimes I don’t like it when people add timelines and history/backstory of their world (infodumping) in the beginning, but Nina Varela does it so well! She has only the important points, short and understandable, and it actually adds to the story rather than distract from it: and it takes a really good author to do that. It gives a feel like the world has always existed even before this book was written, and the timeline in the beginning of the book isn’t even that long!

Five stars, easy peasy. Emotional and interesting, and fun. I can’t wait to read book 2!

This was a wild ride!

The Great Gatsby is told from the POV of Nick Carraway, a man who just moved into West Egg – somewhere near New York, USA. His next door neighbour is a mysterious, successful young man named Jay Gatsby who lives in a mansion and has parties every night with a bunch of different people!

Jay is in love with one of Nick’s friends, Daisy Buchanan, but she already has a husband: a man named Tom., as well as a daughter. Jay and Daisy used to be lovers, and apparently he never got over her.

Most of the action following this plot, however, takes place closer to the end of the novel; say, around the second half is where things get really interesting and a bit unhinged. I really liked it and I can see why people in the 1920s as well as today would enjoy this book. It’s one of those books that I would really consider to be a timeless classic. Some books are incredibly outdated and boring, yet revered, and The Great Gatsby is really not the case.

Apart from the Jay x Daisy romance plot, there isn’t much of a clear storyline for the first half or so of the book, however the events are fun and interesting enough that you can forget about plot. The first half of this book is essentially the definition of “no plot, just vibes” and I can really appreciate it!

I gave this book a 4 stars, simply because of the lack of plot. I enjoyed reading it but I was kinda waiting for there to be an actual storyline. A great book nonetheless that I think everyone should read!

This was a new style I was not used to reading, but the story was fun and twisted in ways I never expected.

Hamlet is about the Prince of Denmark (Hamlet himself) who’s father was killed. The Prince plans revenge, and after the ghost of his father appears, Hamlet speaks to him and learns that it was Hamlet’s uncle, Claudius, who killed his father.

Hamlet ends up killing a man named Polonius (Claudius’ counsellor) thinking it’s his uncle, so Polonius’ son Laertes ends up plotting revenge against Hamlet. It’s a whole revenge triangle – no, not a triangle, a revenge web. There’s some romance, some family issues, some things that would be considered incredibly problematic in the modern world, and of course, everyone ends up dying in the end.

I gave this book 4 stars. I enjoyed the plot and thought the story was intriguing, but I deducted points because the copy I got from the library had explanations and stuff in the margins and it annoyed me so much! My eyes were jumping from the story to the explanations and it was very distracting. It made my reading very choppy.

But still a fun read! Note to self: find a better copy next time if you want to read more Shakespeare.

Alright now to round up our final ratings:

1. Ballet Shoes (Noel Streatfeild), Crier’s War (Nina Varela) – 5/5 stars!
2. The Great Gatsby (F. Scott Fitzgerald), Hamlet (William Shakespeare) – 4/5 stars!
3. The Inheritance Games (Jennifer Lynn Barnes) – 3/5 stars!

Do you agree? Disagree? Let me know in the comments!

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Life is a story. How will you write yours?

Until next time,

Catherine Khaperska

My book Scarred is now out for Pre-Order!