Posted on by Catherine

Rating and Ranking: April and May

Here we go! I’ve been super busy (and chances are I’ll be busy again with exam season coming up) but here are my reads for April and May!

The Poetry of Robert Frost – Robert Frost

I got a huge vintage copy of this at the thrift store and was super excited to get into it! This is my first full poetry book I’ve ever read and I really enjoyed it! When I got to read the poems that I recognized from previous classes or any other place, it was a quick wave of nostalgia that felt good. I also liked that a lot of the poems talked about nature and all its aspects, the good and the bad.

I will rate this a four out of five stars for the nostalgia and simplicity and vibes of it.

The Atlas Six – Olivie Blake (The Atlas, #1)

I really liked this book! I’ve been wanting to read it for quite a while and I’d heard great things about it too. I heard it gave off dark academia vibes and was very immersive, which I have to say it did! But for me, the plot didn’t go as fast as I thought it would and it had just a smidge too much philosophy in it. Don’t get me wrong, philosophical books are great in their own respects, but I felt like I wasn’t expecting it to be as philosophical as it was.

The story is basically about how the top six most powerful mages (or medians, as they’re called) are brought to the Alexandrian Society to study and become caretakers of all the ancient knowledge stored within the Alexandrian Society, recruited and working alongside a mysterious man named Atlas Blakely.

The six initiates are Libby Rhodes and Nico de Varona (physicists that can control the natural elements of the world), Tristan Caine (who can see through illusions and see the world in all its real glory), Parisa Kamali (a telepath), Callum Nova (a manipulative empath), and Reina Mori (a naturalist who can understand the language of plants).

As they form alliances and get used to life in the Alexandrian Society, they learn that at the end of initiation, one of them will end up dead: eliminated by the other five initiates.

The characters are all incredibly well thought out, and I will definitely continue the series with The Atlas Paradox. My personal favourite is Parisa (she’s a powerful and confident woman who doesn’t have to sacrifice any femininity!). I give this book a 4.5 out of 5 stars.

Stone Blind – Natalie Haynes

Everyone knows the Medusa story: that she was a beautiful woman, sexually assaulted by Poseidon in Athena’s temple, and got turned into a monster for it with snakes for hair and a gaze that turns anyone who looks at her to stone. Then she is killed by the hero Perseus, who takes her head and uses it to do a bunch of things (save towns, kill evil people, etc). Out of her stomach comes Chrysaor, a warrior of gold, and Pegasus, the first winged horse.

There are many different interpretations of this myth, but this book takes the myth and sheds new light on it, a different perspective if you will. I really enjoyed this book. Immersive and beautiful, and even if I know the story and most of the Greek myths like the back of my hand, I still followed along with the story without feeling bored in the sense of ‘oh, I know what’s coming next’.

I will give this book a five out of five stars. An absolute masterpiece.

Iron Heart – Nina Varela (Crier’s War, #2)

Ayla and Lady Crier are back and sweeter than ever!

Iron Heart follows them both again as they work together to take down Scyre Kinok and his followers. Apparently, the Scyre has given his Automa followers a new substance called Nightshade (instead of the heartstone that they normally need for survival) but it turns out to be rapidly addictive and can turn even the sweetest and most harmless of Automa into savage killing machines.

Crier runs away from her arranged wedding to the Scyre in order to find Ayla, who is now working with Queen Junn (an enemy ruler to Lady Crier’s father, the sovereign of Rabu) to take down the Scyre and those of his followers addicted to Nightshade, terrorizing and killing any who get in their way.

There are epic battles, soft romantic scenes, pining, friendship, teamwork, and again, lovely world-building without infodumping. I love this series, and I’m sad it’s over but I’m so glad I had the opportunity to read it.

Five out of five. I think that’s obvious by now.

Mirror Girls – Kelly McWilliams

Mirror Girls is a novel set in 1953 at the dawn of the Civil Rights Movement in America. Two sisters, Magnolia and Charlene (who goes by Charlie) are separated at birth after their parents are killed for being of two different races. Magnolia is white-passing and is adopted by a rich white family, the Heathwoods, who live in a small town in the American South called Eureka. Charlie, on the other hand, is much darker-skinned and she is raised by her grandmother in Harlem, New York.

The story starts when Charlie’s Nana has to go back to Eureka so she can die in her hometown. There, Charlie learns of her sister, and around the same time, Magnolia learns of hers. Such brings about a curse on the two of them. Technically the curse started when they were originally separated, but now they’re starting to feel the effects of it. Magnolia’s reflection in the mirror disappears, and she can’t eat anything. She has to choose a side: pass for white her whole life, or live as a Black woman with her sister, and give up the life of luxury she’s been living with the Heathwoods her whole life.

I loved this book. It was very real, and I normally don’t read the acknowledgements section of a book, but something compelled me to do so when I finished this book. Turns out the author did a lot of research before writing this book, and it definitely showed.

I think it’s really important to read books about experiences you might not be familiar with and to learn about our world’s history even if it’s not kind in the slightest, because it can help us understand each other and why things are the way they are in the current world.

I give this book also 5/5 stars, and I truly recommend it to absolutely everyone, whether you’re a fan of historical fiction/fantasy or not.

Alright now to round up our final ratings:

  1. Stone Blind (Natalie Haynes), Iron Heart (Nina Varela), Mirror Girls (Kelly McWilliams) – 5/5 stars!
  2. The Atlas Six (Olivie Blake) – 4.5/5 stars!
  3. The Poetry of Robert Frost (Robert Frost) – 4/5 stars!

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

Subscribe so you can see future posts as they come out!

Life is a story. How will you write yours?

Until next time,

Catherine Khaperska

Posted on by Catherine

Rating And Ranking: March 2023

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.

Ballet Shoes – Noel Streatfeild

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 (Book 1) – Jennifer Lynn Barnes

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 (Book 1) – Nina Varela

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!

The Great Gatsby – F. Scott Fitzgerald

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!

Hamlet – William Shakespeare

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!

Subscribe so you can see future posts as they come out.

Life is a story. How will you write yours?

Until next time,

Catherine Khaperska

My book Scarred is now out for Pre-Order!

Posted on by Catherine

Rating and Ranking: November Reads

November was a very busy month, but I still managed to read a grand total of four books this month! Here are my thoughts and honest reviews on each one. Enjoy! 

To Kill A Kingdom – Alexandra Christo

If you’ve known me long enough, you’ll hear me say that I’ve decided to read a certain book to ‘make my own opinion on it’. When books get popular and hyped up on the internet, sometimes it’s worth it just to pick up the book and see if it’s really worth reading. To Kill a Kingdom by Alexandra Christo was popular on Tiktok and across the book-ternet for about a year or so now and has been on my TBR for almost that long. I’m not one to hop on trends, so yes it took me this long to end up reading it! I chose to read it for my English class but that doesn’t ruin it for me at all considering how long it’s been since I wanted to read it. 

To Kill A Kingdom is about a siren named Lira, known among the humans as the Prince’s Bane since she is known for killing princes and stealing their hearts. It is a tradition among sirens to get human hearts on their birthdays, but since Lira is the daughter of the Sea Queen, all her hearts have come from princes. So when Lira breaks this tradition and gets a heart two weeks early, her mother punishes her severely. Angry at the humiliation Lira knows she will now face, she decides to get the heart of Elian Midas, a pirate prince who has a drive to kill sirens, especially her. When that fails, the Sea Queen decides to turn Lira into a human. If she can’t get Elian’s heart by her birthday, she will be human forever, and will never get the chance to be queen of the sea.

I will give this read four and a half stars. I really enjoyed reading it. All the characters were intriguing in their own ways, from the secrets they keep to the witty sarcastic asides to the cold, ruthless threats. Lira is a cutthroat killer with a twinge of kindness, loyalty, and devotion in her, so she is a relatable character even with the crimes she has committed. Elian says he is not a good man, but he has softer traits that make him likeable, and he is a natural leader aboard his ship, the Saad. 

However I do feel that the romance was a bit rushed. They hated each other so much and then it seemed that one event flipped a switch and suddenly they liked each other and the mutual admiration and pining began. 

However, all in all, this was a great read, and I really recommend it to anyone who likes fantasy, romance, adventure, and fierce action scenes!

Obie Is Man Enough – Schuyler Bailar

I don’t remember where I learned about this book. I think I found it randomly in the library and wanted to read it. I absolutely loved it.

Obie is a Korean-American trans boy who, after getting kicked off his school swim team by his transphobic coach, joins a new team. The book follows his journey as he works towards the qualifications for the Junior Olympics. However, there’s a few setbacks: all his friends were on his old swim team, and now that he’s kicked off, there is a tension and a distancing that there hasn’t been before. The worst is that his transphobic coach’s son Clyde, who used to be his friend, is now being hateful towards Obie, deadnaming and using slurs against him. The book shows Obie’s struggles with transphobia as well as the struggles of growing up as a teen, an athlete, and an Asian-American boy.

Another thing about this book that was interesting to learn was that the author, Schuyler Bailar, is a trans-masc athlete, just like Obie. The NCAA is essentially the league that collegiate athletes in America compete in. Some famous NCAA schools/teams include the University of California at Los Angeles, or UCLA, Bruins, or the University of Florida Gators. Schuyler chose to transition which could have lost him the opportunity to be an NCAA champion, but it didn’t, and he is the first trans athlete to compete in NCAA history. He also has appeared on talk shows and has gotten numerous awards. You can visit his website here.

I will give this a five-star read. However, it does contain sensitive topics and can be explicit (I can’t believe that it’s rated as a 9-13 year old read!). I highly advise you to look up content warnings if you think anything here might be upsetting or triggering, especially for people who are part of the LGBTQ+ community and/or have had past experiences with homo/transphobia. 

Marilla Before Anne – Louise Michalos

I bought this book at a small bookstore in downtown Halifax (thanks, Bookmark!) and even though it was not written by Lucy Maud Montgomery herself, I thoroughly enjoyed it. 

Marilla Before Anne is about Marilla Cuthbert and her life before she and her brother Matthew adopted feisty, red-headed Anne Shirley. There is a lot of foreshadowing and hinting at events in the Anne series, and a lot of details that are mentioned once in the series make their appearance in this book. It’s a mix of coming-of-age as well as an Anne of Green Gables fanfiction. 

What I like about this book is that you don’t have to have read Anne of Green Gables. It does help, of course, considering the characters are the same (most of them) and the significance of certain events would make more sense if you’ve read the original Anne book beforehand. But if you haven’t, you can read it just like any old book, and not have any difficulties understanding. 

But one thing that kind of irked me about this book is how much it strayed from canon and the original plot/worldbuilding of Anne of Green Gables. I’ve read another similar book, Before Green Gables, which follows Anne’s story before getting adopted by the Cuthbert siblings. However, while Before Green Gables expanded on what was canon and turned it into a longer novel, Marilla Before Anne puts a completely new twist on how Anne and Marilla end up meeting, and their relationship, which doesn’t match the original plot. Most of the twists were fun and I enjoyed the way that the author here changed certain aspects of the original to make a different story out of what Lucy Maud Montgomery had written in 1908. But there were some that I didn’t quite like because I didn’t like how much of a stretch it was from Montgomery’s Anne book 

I give this book a three-and-a-half star rating. It was enjoyable and I liked the many twists and new perspectives on the original novel, but there were some parts that made me look at the book like I look at some of my maths homework: I understand the concepts, and I get why it works, but it still makes my brain do a double take. 

Everyone has different preferences when it comes to books and book genres, and fanfiction is no different. If you’re someone who likes books that put a spin on classics, or if you like when authors ask ‘what if’ and make a new novel out of that, this twist on the incredible Anne of Green Gables is for you.

The Ivies – Alexa Donne

Before reading: 

I normally don’t read horror or mystery or thriller novels, but I decided to give this one a try. All I had heard about it was that it gave dark academia vibes, which is something I’m interested in. But there is blood as part of the cover image. There is murder and dark secrets involved. I don’t quite know what I’m getting into, but I’m excited nonetheless… 

After reading:

Whoa. 

That was an adventure. 

I loved it, but it was definitely more of an involved read than I thought it would be. 

The Ivies is about a group of girls at a very exclusive private high school called Claflin. These girls work together to sabotage and expose people in order to get into their dream Ivy League Schools. Each of the girls is ‘assigned’ a university to go to so that they don’t compete against each other in the end. 

The main character Olivia Winters is ‘assigned’ to Penn State by the rest of the Ivies, however she wants to go to Harvard. As a student who is on scholarship instead of having her rich family pay (as do most of the other students at Claflin), she is doing her best to fit in, even if that means joining the ruthless Ivies. 

Avery Montfort is an heiress of a large fortune and is the ‘leader’ of the Ivies. She assigned herself to go to Harvard (duh) but not only is it a great school, her family’s past few generations have been to and graduated from Harvard. 

Sierra Watson is a coding and rowing star, and her ‘assigned’ school is Yale. Margot Kim is a budding actress and her ‘assigned’ school is Princeton. Emma Russo is a modern Renaissance girl, having a very varied skill set. Her ‘assigned’ school is Brown.

When Olivia decides to apply to Harvard behind the rest of the Ivies’ back, she never expects to get in… or Avery to get rejected. A few days later, Emma (who also made it into Harvard) is found dead, and now fingers are pointed towards Avery. Could she kill her friend over a college admission? And is Olivia next?

I loved this book. It was dramatic and exciting, and you never knew who to trust. Everyone seems to have their own motives and their own versions of what happened. What is on the outside is not what’s on the inside in the majority of cases, and when new secrets and new clues are brought up, it could turn the whole case upside down. Sometimes people are likeable, sometimes those same people are bitter and closed off. There’s a sprinkling of romance as well, which I like. 

I will give this book a 4 out of 5. It was my first taste of mystery and I have to say I really enjoyed it! I would recommend it to people who enjoy mystery and who like trying to solve the story’s mystery themselves. Maybe those of you who read a lot of mystery could find this underwhelming, but who knows? I think it’s definitely worth a read! 

So here is my final rating and ranking:

  1. Obie is Man Enough – Schuyler Bailar (5/5 stars!)
  2. To Kill A Kingdom – Alexandra Christo (4.5/5 stars!)
  3. The Ivies – Alexa Donne (4/5 stars!)
  4. Marilla Before Anne – Louise Michalos (3.5/5 stars!)

Alright, that sums up my book reviews for November? Do you agree with my ratings? Would you be interested in reading any of these? Do let me know! 

Thanks for reading! Subscribe so you can see future posts as they come out, and leave a comment and tell me if you plan to do NaNo or not (if you feel so inclined).

Life is a story. How will you write yours?

Until next time,

Catherine Khaperska 

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