Top Ten Tuesday: Books I’m Hoping to Receive 🎁

Whether you’re looking forward to Christmas Day tomorrow, celebrating the Book Flood tonight, the Solstice a couple days ago or another holiday, I hope you’re having a wonderful time. 😊

This week’s TTT topic is about what books you’re hoping to find under your tree, receive as a gift sans tree, w/e. The titles on my list are some sequels, some novella standalones, and others that look fascinating. 👀

 

 

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Artsy Reader Girl. Upcoming topics and past TTT topics can be found here.

 

The Stationery Shop by Marjan Kamali

Amazon | Audible | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Goodreads | Indiebound | Libro.fm

Published: 18 June 2019

Publisher: Gallery Books

Genre(s): Historical Fiction/Cultural (Iran)

A novel set in 1953 Tehran against the backdrop of the Iranian Coup about a young couple in love who are separated on the eve of their marriage, and who are reunited sixty years later, after having moved on to live independent lives in America, to discover the truth about what happened on that fateful day in the town square.

 

 

The Girl Who Could Move Sh*t With Her Mind by Jackson Ford

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Published: 18 June 2019

Publisher: Orbit

Genre(s): Science Fiction/Mystery

For Teagan Frost, sh*t just got real.

Teagan Frost is having a hard time keeping it together. Sure, she’s got telekinetic powers—a skill that the government is all too happy to make use of, sending her on secret break-in missions that no ordinary human could carry out. But all she really wants to do is kick back, have a beer, and pretend she’s normal for once.

But then a body turns up at the site of her last job—murdered in a way that only someone like Teagan could have pulled off. She’s got 24 hours to clear her name—and it’s not just her life at stake. If she can’t unravel the conspiracy in time, her hometown of Los Angeles will be in the crosshairs of an underground battle that’s on the brink of exploding…

Full of imagination, wit and random sh*t flying through the air, this insane adventure from an irreverent new voice will blow your tiny mind.

 

 

Her Royal Highness by Rachel Hawkins

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Published: 7 May 2019

Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers

Genre(s): Contemporary/Young Adult/LGBT+

Millie Quint is devastated when she discovers that her sort-of-best friend/sort-of-girlfriend has been kissing someone else. And because Millie cannot stand the thought of confronting her ex every day, she decides to apply for scholarships to boarding schools . . . the farther from Houston the better.

Millie can’t believe her luck when she’s accepted into one of the world’s most exclusive schools, located in the rolling highlands of Scotland. Everything about Scotland is different: the country is misty and green; the school is gorgeous, and the students think Americans are cute.

The only problem: Mille’s roommate Flora is a total princess.

She’s also an actual princess. Of Scotland.

At first, the girls can barely stand each other–Flora is both high-class and high-key–but before Millie knows it, she has another sort-of-best-friend/sort-of-girlfriend. Even though Princess Flora could be a new chapter in her love life, Millie knows the chances of happily ever afters are slim . . . after all, real life isn’t a fairy tale . . . or is it?

 

 

The Black God’s Drums by P. Djeli Clark

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Published: 21 August 2018

Publisher: Tor.com

Genre(s): SFF/Novella/Alternate Historical Fiction

Creeper, a scrappy young teen, is done living on the streets of New Orleans. Instead, she wants to soar, and her sights are set on securing passage aboard the smuggler airship Midnight Robber. Her ticket: earning Captain Ann-Marie’s trust using a secret about a kidnapped Haitian scientist and a mysterious weapon he calls The Black God’s Drums.

But Creeper keeps another secret close to heart–Oya, the African orisha of the wind and storms, who speaks inside her head and grants her divine powers. And Oya has her own priorities concerning Creeper and Ann-Marie…

 

 

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers

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Published: 18 August 2015 (originally published 29 July 2014)

Publisher: Harper Voyager

Genre(s): Science Fiction/LGBT+/Space Opera

Follow a motley crew on an exciting journey through space—and one adventurous young explorer who discovers the meaning of family in the far reaches of the universe—in this light-hearted debut space opera from a rising sci-fi star.

Rosemary Harper doesn’t expect much when she joins the crew of the aging Wayfarer. While the patched-up ship has seen better days, it offers her a bed, a chance to explore the far-off corners of the galaxy, and most importantly, some distance from her past. An introspective young woman who learned early to keep to herself, she’s never met anyone remotely like the ship’s diverse crew, including Sissix, the exotic reptilian pilot, chatty engineers Kizzy and Jenks who keep the ship running, and Ashby, their noble captain.

Life aboard the Wayfarer is chaotic and crazy—exactly what Rosemary wants. It’s also about to get extremely dangerous when the crew is offered the job of a lifetime. Tunneling wormholes through space to a distant planet is definitely lucrative and will keep them comfortable for years. But risking her life wasn’t part of the plan. In the far reaches of deep space, the tiny Wayfarer crew will confront a host of unexpected mishaps and thrilling adventures that force them to depend on each other. To survive, Rosemary’s got to learn how to rely on this assortment of oddballs—an experience that teaches her about love and trust, and that having a family isn’t necessarily the worst thing in the universe.

 

 

Artificial Condition by Martha Wells

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Published: 18 May 2018

Publisher: Tor.com

Genre(s): Science Fiction/Novella

It has a dark past – one in which a number of humans were killed. A past that caused it to christen itself “Murderbot”. But it has only vague memories of the massacre that spawned that title, and it wants to know more.

Teaming up with a Research Transport vessel named ART (you don’t want to know what the “A” stands for), Murderbot heads to the mining facility where it went rogue.

What it discovers will forever change the way it thinks…

 

 

The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal

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Published: 3 July 2018

Publisher: Tor Books

Genre(s): Science Fiction/Alternate Historical Fiction

On a cold spring night in 1952, a huge meteorite fell to earth and obliterated much of the east coast of the United States, including Washington D.C. The ensuing climate cataclysm will soon render the earth inhospitable for humanity, as the last such meteorite did for the dinosaurs. This looming threat calls for a radically accelerated effort to colonize space, and requires a much larger share of humanity to take part in the process.

Elma York’s experience as a WASP pilot and mathematician earns her a place in the International Aerospace Coalition’s attempts to put man on the moon, as a calculator. But with so many skilled and experienced women pilots and scientists involved with the program, it doesn’t take long before Elma begins to wonder why they can’t go into space, too.

Elma’s drive to become the first Lady Astronaut is so strong that even the most dearly held conventions of society may not stand a chance against her.

 

 

Dear Fahrenheit 451 by Annie Spence

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Published: 26 September 2017

Publisher: Flatiron Books

Genre(s): Nonfiction/Humor/Memoir

A Gen-X librarian’s snarky, laugh-out-loud funny, deeply moving collection of love letters and break-up notes to the books in her life.

Librarians spend their lives weeding–not weeds but books! Books that have reached the end of their shelf life, both literally and figuratively. They remove the books that patrons no longer check out. And they put back the books they treasure. Annie Spence, who has a decade of experience as a Midwestern librarian, does this not only at her Michigan library but also at home, for her neighbors, at cocktail parties—everywhere. In Dear Fahrenheit 451, she addresses those books directly. We read her love letters to The Goldfinch and Matilda, as well as her snarky break-ups with Fifty Shades of Grey and Dear John. Her notes to The Virgin Suicides and The Time Traveler’s Wife feel like classics, sure to strike a powerful chord with readers. Through the lens of the books in her life, Annie comments on everything from women’s psychology to gay culture to health to poverty to childhood aspirations. Hilarious, compassionate, and wise, Dear Fahrenheit 451 is the consummate book-lover’s birthday present, stocking stuffer, holiday gift, and all-purpose humor book.

 

 

Echo North by Joanna Ruth Meyer

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Published: 15 January 2019

Publisher: Page Street Publishing Co.

Genre(s): Fantasy/Young Adult/Retellings

Echo Alkaev’s safe and carefully structured world falls apart when her father leaves for the city and mysteriously disappears. Believing he is lost forever, Echo is shocked to find him half-frozen in the winter forest six months later, guarded by a strange talking wolf—the same creature who attacked her as a child. The wolf presents Echo with an ultimatum: If she lives with him for one year, he will ensure her father makes it home safely. But there is more to the wolf than Echo realizes.

In his enchanted house beneath a mountain, each room must be sewn together to keep the home from unraveling, and something new and dark and strange lies behind every door. When centuries-old secrets unfold, Echo discovers a magical library full of books-turned-mirrors, and a young man named Hal who is trapped inside of them. As the year ticks by, the rooms begin to disappear, and Echo must solve the mystery of the wolf’s enchantment before her time is up, otherwise Echo, the wolf, and Hal will be lost forever.

 

 

Suggested Reading by David Connis

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Published: 17 September 2019

Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books

Genre(s): Young Adult/Contemporary

In this standalone, a bookworm finds a way to fight back when her school bans dozens of classic and meaningful books.

Clara Evans is horrified when she discovers her principal’s “prohibited media” hit list. The iconic books on the list have been pulled from the library and aren’t allowed anywhere on the school’s premises. Students caught with the contraband will be sternly punished.

Many of these stories have changed Clara’s life, so she’s not going to sit back and watch while her draconian principal abuses his power. She’s going to strike back.

So Clara starts an underground library in her locker, doing a shady trade in titles like Speak and The Chocolate War. But when one of the books she loves most is connected to a tragedy she never saw coming, Clara’s forced to face her role in it.

Will she be able to make peace with her conflicting feelings, or is fighting for this noble cause too tough for her to bear?

 

 

Have you read any of these? Will I be in for a treat, do you think? 🤞🤞

 

 

 

 

 

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The Hermit Librarian Begins the #StartOnYourShelfAThon

What is #StartOnYourShelfathon?

#StartOnYourShelfathon is a 2020 star-themed readathon hosted and run by CW from The Quiet Pond. The aim of #StartOnYourShelfathon is to read as many unread books on your bookshelf as you can between December 13th 2019 and December 31st 2020.

#StartOnYourShelfathon isn’t an ordinary readathon too! The mascot of #StartOnYourShelfathon is Castor the Star Collector who is also a sloth friend of The Quiet Pond, who has lost all the stars he has collected over the years and needs your help to find them again.

For every book that you read as part of #StartOnYourShelfathon, you collect a star that you can add the star to your ‘star map’. Read books, collect stars, give yourself an amateur star-collector name, and create constellations! You can read Castor’s story and find information about and resources for the readathon here.

 

Information about Joining #StartOnYourShelfathon

 

1. Join the StartOnYourShelfathon anytime between Dec 13th 2019 to Dec 31st 2020!
2. To join #StartOnYourShelfathon, create a blog post, bookstagram post, booktube video, Twitter thread, or whatever medium you wish, with ‘#StartOnYourShelfathon’ in the title or your tweet.
3. In your post/video/thread, announce that you will be participating in the readathon. List your readathon goals and the books you plan to read! (Post templates and readathon banners can be found in the readathon resources below!)
4. Link back to this post so that others can find this readathon and join in.

 

Share your updates on your blog/bookstagram/booktube and social media. You are more than welcome to tag @thequietpond on Twitter in all your updates! We would love to see your progress and your star maps – in-progress and completed!

 

My #StartOnYourShelfathon Goals

 

1. For every book backlist book on my shelf, whether physical or digital, that I read, I can read one newer book/new release.
2. If I DNF a book, donate it or otherwise giveaway so that someone else can enjoy it.

 

 

This is my first star map entitled The Great Wide Sea. I’m using Polaris as my star collector name because I’ve long had an affinity for that particular star related name, so it felt fitting. 🙂

 

My #StartOnYourShelfathon TBR

 

Truthwitch by Susan Dennard

In a continent on the edge of war, two witches hold its fate in their hands.

Young witches Safiya and Iseult have a habit of finding trouble. After clashing with a powerful Guildmaster and his ruthless Bloodwitch bodyguard, the friends are forced to flee their home.

Safi must avoid capture at all costs as she’s a rare Truthwitch, able to discern truth from lies. Many would kill for her magic, so Safi must keep it hidden – lest she be used in the struggle between empires. And Iseult’s true powers are hidden even from herself.

In a chance encounter at Court, Safi meets Prince Merik and makes him a reluctant ally. However, his help may not slow down the Bloodwitch now hot on the girls’ heels. All Safi and Iseult want is their freedom, but danger lies ahead. With war coming, treaties breaking and a magical contagion sweeping the land, the friends will have to fight emperors and mercenaries alike. For some will stop at nothing to get their hands on a Truthwitch.

 

I’ve had Truthwitch on my shelf for a few years now. I think I even read a sampler of it back when it first came out and picked up the sequel to support the author. Why didn’t I actually finish the book? *shrug* Who knows? That’s what this readathon is all about, though, trying these dormant books out and seeing if I like them or if they need to find new homes. 🙂 It certainly sounds like my jam, with the magic system and all, so hopefully the experience will go well.

 

Cinder by Marissa Meyer

A forbidden romance.
A deadly plague.
Earth’s fate hinges on one girl . . .

CINDER, a gifted mechanic in New Beijing, is also a cyborg. She’s reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s sudden illness. But when her life becomes entwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she finds herself at the centre of a violent struggle between the desires of an evil queen – and a dangerous temptation.

Cinder is caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal. Now she must uncover secrets about her mysterious past in order to protect Earth’s future.

This is not the fairytale you remember. But it’s one you won’t forget.

 

The cyborg aspect sounds intriguing, plus Iko. 😭💛

 

The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker

Chava is a golem, a creature made of clay, brought to life by a disgraced rabbi who dabbles in dark Kabbalistic magic, created to be the wife of a man who dies at sea on the voyage from Poland. Chava is unmoored and adrift as the ship arrives in New York harbor in 1899.

Ahmad is a jinni, a being of fire born in the ancient Syrian desert, trapped in an old copper flask, and released in New York City, though still not entirely free.

Ahmad and Chava become unlikely friends and soul mates with a mystical connection. Marvelous and compulsively readable, Helene Wecker’s debut novel The Golem and the Jinni weaves strands of Yiddish and Middle Eastern literature, historical fiction and magical fable, into a wondrously inventive and unforgettable tale.

 

I don’t rightly recall when I picked this up (e-book), but I vaguely remember hearing about it when it came out. Not much in the way of reviews, that sort of thing, but it sounded intriguing enough so I know I meant to read it. 😅

 

Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay

Pink is my favorite color. I used to say my favorite color was black to be cool, but it is pink—all shades of pink. If I have an accessory, it is probably pink. I read Vogue, and I’m not doing it ironically, though it might seem that way. I once live-tweeted the September issue.

In these funny and insightful essays, Roxane Gay takes us through the journey of her evolution as a woman of color while also taking readers on a ride through culture of the last few years and commenting on the state of feminism today. The portrait that emerges is not only one of an incredibly insightful woman continually growing to understand herself and our society, but also one of our culture.

Bad Feminist is a sharp, funny, and spot-on look at the ways in which the culture we consume becomes who we are, and an inspiring call-to-arms of all the ways we still need to do better.

 

This got a lot of hype, which is probably why I bought it. You’ll notice a pattern, unfortunately. I can’t explain why I didn’t read these at the time I bought them. 🤷‍♂️😂

 

The Vampire Knitting Club by Nancy Warren

Vampires who knit
A troublemaking witch
Who killed Granny — and is she really dead?

At a crossroads between a cringe-worthy past (Todd the Toad) and an uncertain future (she’s not exactly homeless, but it’s close), Lucy Swift travels to Oxford to visit her grandmother. With Gran’s undying love to count on and Cardinal Woolsey’s, Gran’s knitting shop, to keep her busy, Lucy can catch her breath and figure out what she’s going to do.

Except it turns out that Gran is the undying. Or at least, the undead. But there’s a death certificate. And a will, leaving the knitting shop to Lucy. And a lot of people going in and out who never use the door—including Gran, who is just as loving as ever, and prone to knitting sweaters at warp speed, late at night. What exactly is going on?

When Lucy discovers that Gran did not die peacefully in her sleep, but was murdered, she has to bring the killer to justice without tipping off the law that there’s no body in the grave. Between a hot 600-year-old vampire and a dishy detective inspector, both of whom always seem to be there for her, Lucy finds her life getting more complicated than a triple cable cardigan.

The only one who seems to know what’s going on is her cat … or is it … her familiar?

 

This is probably one of the weirder titles that popped up when I was perusing my Kindle collection and making my tbr. I like vampires, I like knitting. Do I remember this book existing AT ALL? No. 🤣

 

Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman

Under the streets of London there’s a place most people could never even dream of. A city of monsters and saints, murderers and angels, knights in armour and pale girls in black velvet. This is the city of the people who have fallen between the cracks.

Richard Mayhew, a young businessman, is going to find out more than enough about this other London. A single act of kindness catapults him out of his workday existence and into a world that is at once eerily familiar and utterly bizarre. And a strange destiny awaits him down here, beneath his native city: Neverwhere.

 

I’ve been trying to read this book for years now and just can’t manage to sit through it for some reason, despite liking other Gaiman book. This year is the year, though! I hope.

 

The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden

At the edge of the Russian wilderness, winter lasts most of the year and the snowdrifts grow taller than houses. But Vasilisa doesn’t mind—she spends the winter nights huddled around the embers of a fire with her beloved siblings, listening to her nurse’s fairy tales. Above all, she loves the chilling story of Frost, the blue-eyed winter demon, who appears in the frigid night to claim unwary souls. Wise Russians fear him, her nurse says, and honor the spirits of house and yard and forest that protect their homes from evil.

After Vasilisa’s mother dies, her father goes to Moscow and brings home a new wife. Fiercely devout, city-bred, Vasilisa’s new stepmother forbids her family from honoring the household spirits. The family acquiesces, but Vasilisa is frightened, sensing that more hinges upon their rituals than anyone knows.

And indeed, crops begin to fail, evil creatures of the forest creep nearer, and misfortune stalks the village. All the while, Vasilisa’s stepmother grows ever harsher in her determination to groom her rebellious stepdaughter for either marriage or confinement in a convent.

As danger circles, Vasilisa must defy even the people she loves and call on dangerous gifts she has long concealed—this, in order to protect her family from a threat that seems to have stepped from her nurse’s most frightening tales.

 

This sounds like the perfect series to read in the midst of winter when it is frigid outside my own door.

 

Last Call at the Nightshade Lounge by Paul Krueger

A sharp and funny urban fantasy for “new adults” about a secret society of bartenders who fight monsters with alcohol fueled magic.

College grad Bailey Chen has a few demons: no job, no parental support, and a rocky relationship with Zane, the only friend who’s around when she moves back home. But when Zane introduces Bailey to his cadre of monster-fighting bartenders, her demons get a lot more literal. Like, soul-sucking hell-beast literal. Soon, it’s up to Bailey and the ragtag band of magical mixologists to take on whatever—or whoever—is behind the mysterious rash of gruesome deaths in Chicago, and complete the lost recipes of an ancient tome of cocktail lore.

 

Magical mixologists. Just…wow. 😍 That sounds interesting as heck.

 

Heart of Iron by Ashley Poston

Seventeen-year-old Ana is a scoundrel by nurture and an outlaw by nature. Found as a child drifting through space with a sentient android called D09, Ana was saved by a fearsome space captain and the grizzled crew she now calls family. But D09—one of the last remaining illegal Metals—has been glitching, and Ana will stop at nothing to find a way to fix him.

Ana’s desperate effort to save D09 leads her on a quest to steal the coordinates to a lost ship that could offer all the answers. But at the last moment, a spoiled Ironblood boy beats Ana to her prize. He has his own reasons for taking the coordinates, and he doesn’t care what he’ll sacrifice to keep them.

When everything goes wrong, she and the Ironblood end up as fugitives on the run. Now their entire kingdom is after them—and the coordinates—and not everyone wants them captured alive.

What they find in a lost corner of the universe will change all their lives—and unearth dangerous secrets. But when a darkness from Ana’s past returns, she must face an impossible choice: does she protect a kingdom that wants her dead or save the Metal boy she loves?

 

D09. 😮😥 I just have a baaaad feeling about this but also I still really want to read this? 😅 I love space books and especially books with A.I. components, so even if this ends up being emotionally wrecking, I still have to try.

 

The Onion Girl by Charles de Lint

In novel after novel, and story after story, Charles de Lint has brought an entire imaginary North American city to vivid life. Newford: where magic lights dark streets; where myths walk clothed in modern shapes; where a broad cast of extraordinary and affecting people work to keep the whole world turning.

At the center of all the entwined lives in Newford stands a young artist named Jilly Coppercorn, with her tangled hair, her paint-splattered jeans, a smile perpetually on her lips–Jilly, whose paintings capture the hidden beings that dwell in the city’s shadows. Now, at last, de Lint tells Jilly’s own story…for behind the painter’s fey charm lies a dark secret and a past she’s labored to forget. And that past is coming to claim her now.

“I’m the onion girl,” Jilly Coppercorn says. “Pull back the layers of my life, and you won’t find anything at the core. Just a broken child. A hollow girl.” She’s very, very good at running. But life has just forced Jilly to stop.

 

Charles de Lint books have long been on my shelf, but this one I missed? 🤔 Oops. Time to fix the missing books and fill them in.

 

The Battle of the Labyrinth by Rick Riordan

Percy Jackson isn’t expecting freshman orientation to be any fun. But when a mysterious mortal acquaintance appears at his potential new school, followed by demon cheerleaders, things quickly move from bad to worse.

In this fourth installment of the blockbuster series, time is running out as war between the Olympians and the evil Titan lord Kronos draws near. Even the safe haven of Camp Half-Blood grows more vulnerable by the minute as Kronos’s army prepares to invade its once impenetrable borders. To stop the invasion, Percy and his demigod friends must set out on a quest through the Labyrinth – a sprawling underground world with stunning surprises at every turn.

 

So, so far behind on this series and the subsequent ones. 😫 Everyone is having fun with Percy references, so I want to finally get with it so I can understand more than just the first three books.

 

 

Join #StartOnYourShelfathon!

 

If you want to join #StartOnYourShelfathon, you can read more information in the readathon information post at The Quiet Pond.

 

 

 

 

 

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[DNF Review] The Little Bookshop on the Seine by Rebecca Raisin

Thanks to viewing a Lifetime Christmas movie (Christmas Around the Corner, where the MC rents an apartment & manages the bookshop below for the Christmas holiday), I’d been looking for a story that was somewhat similar. The premise of The Little Bookshop on the Seine sounded like just the ticket.

Sarah Smith is a small town bookshop owner whose shop is struggling & whose freelance journalist boyfriend is more often abroad than at home. When her friend, who owns a bookshop in Paris, offers an exchange of locales for a time, Sarah impulsively says yes.

Sounds good, yes? Oh, would that it were.

 

 

Amazon | Audible | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Goodreads | Indiebound | Libro.fm

Published: 16 October 2015

Publisher: HQN Books

Genre(s): Women’s Fiction/Romance

It’s The Holiday on the Champs-Élysées in a great big love letter to Paris, charming old bookstores and happily-ever-afters!

When bookshop owner Sarah Smith is offered the opportunity for a job exchange with her Parisian friend Sophie, saying yes is a no-brainer—after all, what kind of romantic would turn down six months in Paris? Sarah is sure she’s in for the experience of a lifetime—days spent surrounded by literature in a gorgeous bookshop, and the chance to watch the snow fall on the Eiffel Tower. Plus, now she can meet up with her journalist boyfriend, Ridge, when his job takes him around the globe.

But her expectations cool faster than her café au lait soon after she lands in the City of Light—she’s a fish out of water in Paris. The customers are rude, her new coworkers suspicious and her relationship with Ridge has been reduced to a long-distance game of phone tag, leaving Sarah to wonder if he’ll ever put her first over his busy career. As Christmas approaches, Sarah is determined to get the shop—and her life—back in order…and make her dreams of a Parisian happily-ever-after come true.

 

 

 

I didn’t get very far because first and foremost the writing style was not to my taste. There was no hook in the story, nothing to capture my interest. It was quite dull.

It was also hard to figure out how old Sarah, the main character, was. The way she was talking about other people, the way she mentioned her boyfriend being named before a famous one from an 80’s soap, made her sound older than I think she was intended to be which made it confusing when in the second chapter she started acting…younger? I wasn’t sure what the author meant the reader to think.

The interactions between Sarah and Ridge, the boyfriend, felt really awkward. I thought it was a setup to his being a creep or something, but apparently this (The Little Bookshop on the Seine) is not the first book they’ve appeared in together? There’s nothing in the book (title page, etc.) to suggest that, so I had no idea, so the creep idea is less likely, but who knows? Whether they have a long standing relationship or not, I still found their phone conversation (Ridge is a freelance journalist who is often abroad) awkward and uncomfortable to read. It wasn’t one I felt I could stomach reading, assuming Ridge did pop up later on in the book.

Shortly after this conversation, Sarah was contacted by her French friend, Sophie, owner of the Parisian bookshop, and I was done after that.

There’s no build up, no gripping story angle. It’s right into the exchange and that’s so dull. It all happened too fast. The author didn’t give the reader a chance to get to know Sarah or Sophie, never mind any of the secondary characters. Why should we care about either of their troubles? It’s sad that Sarah might have to close the shop, sure, but in a very abstract sort of way.

A bookish The Holiday sounded like a nice seasonal read, but, unfortunately didn’t make the mark.

 

 

 

 

 

I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Quotes included are from an advanced reader copy and may not reflect the finalized copy.

All media belongs to the respective owners and is used here solely for the purpose of review and commentary.

 

[Review] Audio Excerpt – F*ck No! by Sarah Knight

I’m a big fan of audiobooks and it made me enormously happy when, a few days ago, NetGalley announced that they were rolling out an audio program.

 

 

While it only involves excerpts for the moment, it looks like there will be full audiobooks in the future. I’m hopeful because this is a big step in accessibility for reviewers. One thing I don’t like at present is that the information pages for each book do not note who the narrators are, just the author of the original text.

One of the first books I’ve sampled and I’ll review is F*ck No! by Sarah Knight. Note: please remember, these are only excerpts that NetGalley is offering and that I’m reviewing, not the full book. As such, the criteria for review is a bit different.

 

Do you like the narrator?

 

Yes. F*ck No is narrated by Sarah Knight, the author. Her voice is very clear, words enunciated clearly, and from the length of the excerpt, I think would be pleasant to listen to at length (a crucial quality).

There was no extraneous background noise and the sound quality itself was crisp. Given the way the introduction was narrated, it’s my opinion that much of the text would feel like the advice/help that is being dispensed in text would feel like you were being spoken to rather than being preached at, something that usually drives me away from self help books.

 

Did this excerpt give you a good sense of the book?

 

Yes. Thankfully, unlike some excerpts on Audible, starts in the beginning i.e. the introduction, so the reader is given a good idea of what the premise is and where things are going to proceed.

 

Do you want to hear the rest of this audiobook?

 

Yes. This is a self-help type book, not a genre I generally pick up, but the narrator’s vocal appeal makes me consider it.

 

Would you recommend this audiobook to others?

 

Yes. It sounds like it’s going to be fun and engaging, at the very least somewhat interesting. The narrator is a good one, the excerpt of the text appealing.  There’s something about the intro, about the possibility of assistance in figuring out how to approach saying “no”, that makes the book an addition to my TBR.

As for why the audiobook? I think hearing the advice aloud in this instance might be more helpful rather than reading the text and hearing it in my own inner voice.

 

 

Amazon | Audible | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Goodreads | Indiebound | Libro.fm

Published: 31 December 2019

Publisher: Voracious

Genre(s): Nonfiction/Self Help

How to say no without being an a**hole, from the New York Times bestselling author of The Life-Changing Magic of Not Giving a F*ck

Are you burnt out from taking on more than you can handle or accepting less than you deserve? Tired of giving in instead of sticking up for yourself? Sick of saying yes all the time? You’re gonna love F*CK NO!


No is an acceptable answer, and it’s time to start using it. Whether you’re a People-Pleaser, Overachiever, Pushover, or have serious FOMO, bestselling “anti-guru” Sarah Knight helps you say what you really mean without being really mean–or burning out for fear of missing out.

Life is so much better when you say no with confidence–and without guilt, fear, or regret. F*ck No! delivers practical strategies that give you the power to decline, and concrete examples that put the words right into your mouth. You’ll discover:

The joy of no
No-Tips for all occasions
How to set boundaries
Fill-in-the-blank F*ckNotes

The No-and-Switch, the Power No–and how to take no for an answer yourself
And much more!

 

 

 

 

 

I listened to a free excerpt of this audiobook via NetGalley’s audiobook program in exchange for an honest review. Quotes included are from an advanced reader copy and may not reflect the finalized copy.

All media belongs to the respective owners and is used here solely for the purpose of review and commentary.