Stuffed Animal Saturday [8]

Stuffed Animal Saturday is a meme that we post here at We Live and Breathe Books every two weeks to showcase the book we're currently reading with one of our favorite stuffed animals and discuss our stuffed animal's opinion (well, it's really our opinion, but that's besides the point). We hope you enjoy our quirky feature as much as we enjoy writing it!

This is Foxy. She is foxy and very sassy and not afraid to dish out a bad word about a book. We're currently reading The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

So Far:This week Foxy and I have embarked through the journey which is The Kite Runner. This book seems so far to be as touching and deep as Hosseini's other book, and a personal favorite of mine, A Thousand Splendid Suns. The book takes place in Afghanistan in the 1980s, and yet seems to be both relatable and tragic.

The narrator, Amir, is kind of a prick, but the kind that knows he's a prick and works for self redemption (the one that might one day be a little bit okay). His best friend, Hassan, is so far, the most spectacular human being to ever exist and I am hopelessly in love with him already. It is obvious that somewhere soon, Hassan's kindness and patience will either a. fade away, or b. be forcibly pushed from Amir's life. I absolutely cannot wait to find out, this book literally has me begging for more.

A Sneak Peek: 

I wished I hadn’t started this conversation. I forced a smile. “Don’t be stupid,  Hassan. You know I wouldn’t.” 

Hassan returned the smile. Except his didn’t look forced. “I know,” he said. And  that’s the thing about people who mean everything they say. They think everyone  else does too. 

UGH HASSAN YOU MELT MY HEART.

- Amrutha

Are you and your stuffed animal reading anything interesting? 

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Project V.O.I.C..E and Other Excitement

Hey everyone! My post today isn't going to be a book review like normal. A few days ago, Sarah Kay and Phil Kaye -- spoken word poets from Project V.O.I.C.E -- did a performance and poetry workshop at my college. If you've never heard any of their poetry I STRONGLY urge you to YouTube them and listen to their work (also listen to Sarah's TED talk). When I found out they were coming, I was SO excited to see them and now that I have, I wanted to share the experience with anyone reading this, for a few reasons. Not only did I get a chance to meet two of the people I look up to the most, they had a workshop event afterwards where they gave writing tips that I'd love to share with you. I know any avid reader can appreciate the feeling of freaking out an being excited over an event or meeting someone so I figured this would be a good place to share my experience. And if I introduce a few people to Sarah Kay and Phil Kaye along the way, that's an added bonus! 

I've been a fan of spoken word poetry for many years and I've been a fan of Sarah and Phil for quite a while too. I have memorized some of their poems word for word just by watching them on YouTube so many times. Listening to them gives me chills and when I found out they were coming to my campus, nothing could hide t excitement. I was flailing and jumping and fangirling for ages. However,no amount of hours spent watching videos could compare to the real, live thing. 

The first thing I noticed: Sarah was tall. Phil was taller, but he is a boy and therefore expected to be tall. Her tallness was above the female average. Very fitting, considering her words are larger than life and can fill up an entire room, demanding and commanding attention.  

The last thing I noticed: Phil is soft spoken. When he recites poems, oh boy does his voice resonate and carry. But e recites in such a soft, beautiful way, one can't help but listen closely and hang on to every word. And when he speaks conversationally, his voice is so quiet and smooth it's absolutely stunning. 

Anyway, watching them perform live was a wonderful experience I want to relive forever and ever. Every second and every word had a new way of chilling me to the bond. Even the poems I watched so much I memorized had a COMPLETELY different event live. It was so beautiful and sincere and overall perfect. 

After the performance, they had a little booth of some of their books for sale and said that even if you don't buy anything, come on line just to talk to them. How cute is that? I bought two books and had them signed and I made sure I told them exactly how excited I was to be there and how much I loved them and how much they inspired me. 

After that, we were waiting for last minute sign ups for the workshop and says bong around and Sarah and Phil were kind enough to take pictures with people so this is a thing that happened that I am still not over and probably never will be over. 

After a short while, we began the workshop, which was one of the best experiences I've had. It was a very small group of people so it was very up close and personal and they took the name to remember all our names. I am going to repeat this again because it made me so happy I actually still cannot contain myself, multiple days later. SARAH KAY AND PHIL KAYE SPOKE TO ME ON A NAME TO NAME LEVEL. Anyway, we started with an exercise of writing down things we knew to be true. In this way, they taught us that if you ever need something to write about, write down things you know to be true, and then play with those ideas until you have a real, workable idea. Not every story has to be about abstract things like life and time and happiness. Something about that time you punched your best friend in the face can be just as powerful if you do it right. 

We also did exercises in picking a word and taking it further than just speaking it. We had arm movements and body movements and threw ourselves into the word, and everyone else threw themselves back as if mirroring us. Sarah and Phil said that to perform spoken word, you have to make sure all of yourself is committed to each and every word and that nothing seems stiff and awkward. 

They did a few more exercises with us, some of them silly, all of them insightful and I know I learned a LOT about writing -- not just poetry but writing in general. This was such an amazing experience and opportunity and it's left its impression on me in a way I hope I can use to improve myself. See you next week!

- Noor

Review: Untold - Sarah Rees Brennan

Untold
Sarah Rees Brennan

Series: The Lynburn Legacy, #2

Genre: Young Adult, Paranormal, Romance, Mystery

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Word Rating: Craziness
On Goodreads

Hello, everyone! I read Unspoken, the first book in the Lynburn Legacy series, earlier this year. With the cliffhanger ending of that book (grrr…), I was anxiously awaiting the release of the second book. Unfortunately, college happened and I found myself unable to read Untold until now. I really loved Unspoken and Untold did not disappoint.

It’s hard to talk about Untold without having any spoilers for the first book in the series because the plot has everything to do with a secret that isn’t revealed in Unspoken until about 75% through the book. That being said, here’s a spoiler-free summary of my full review:

Untold has great character development of the main character, Kami, as well as several of the minor characters. Sarah Rees Brennan does a lot to elaborate on the way the characters think so we can understand what they do. This book is darker than Unspoken, but still has it’s funny moments in the dialogue. Overall, I really enjoyed Untold. I’m really interested to see where the next installment goes with all the craziness that occurred in this book and I can’t wait to read it!

I know, super brief and completely unexplained, but spoilers are mean! Anyhow, onto the full review!

**This review is spoiler-free for Untold but includes MAJOR SPOILERS for Unspoken. Read at your own risk.**

Untold picks up right where Unspoken left off. Rob Lynburn and his band of sorcerers want to make Sorry-in-the-Vale how it used to be – controlled by sorcerers who spill blood for power. Of course, Kami Glass is willing to do anything it takes to stop him.

Since Kami broke her link with Jared, there relationship is as strained as ever. Even though Jared is certainly more dramatic about being without the link, Kami has to adjust as well. I liked seeing how Kami thought about her choices more in this book. Without Jared in her head all the time, she doesn’t always have someone commenting on her every thought before she makes a decision. This changes the way she thinks a lot throughout the book. The best thing about it is that even though she’s struggling with this self-doubt and lack of Jared, she still does what she needs to do and makes important decisions. Kami is so strong and it’s even more apparent in this story since she is separated from Jared and has to deal with so many other things in her life while attempting to foil an evil sorcerer.

While Kami’s struggle to live without the link is explored, we get far more insight into the minds of her friends as well. From the way Ash behaves and sees things to Holly trying to figure out her situation with Angela to Jared facing his intense longing for Kami’s voice in his head, there is so much development in these characters.

But the character who stood out to me most was Rusty. I thought he was cool in the first book, but he becomes really interesting in Untold. Rusty does things in this book that really made me question what his motives were. Who is he? We know that he’s Kami’s best friend’s older brother and that he looks after her, but there’s a lot more to him than that, which is starting to be explored in this book. I’m really looking forward to seeing where Sarah Rees Brennan goes with his character in the next book.

Once again, Sarah Rees Brennan delivers an interesting and well-paced story. This installment certainly provided more about sorcery (since we actually know that the Lynburns are sorcerers for the whole book) but it was also a lot darker in nature than the first. Near the end of the book, there are a lot of really dark and horrible things happening. Unspoken was certainly dark at times, but Untold has a lot less of the light and whimsical moments that were in the first book. (Of course, there are still a lot of funny times in Untold – I laughed so hard at some of the dialogue.) This is a good example of ignorance is bliss when It comes to knowing what’s up with the Lynburns.

Overall, I very much enjoyed Untold. I was so happy to finally get a chance to read it and I’m happy, for the most part, about where Sarah Rees Brennan took the story. Although the characters didn’t really get much accomplished during this book in regards to saving the town, I’m sure the next installment will be packed with their fight to save the town. With all the craziness that occurred in this book (I’d tell you, but that would be spoiler-y and you should read this series if you haven’t already), there is so much for Unmade to cover. I can’t wait!

- Kiersten

Do you read reviews for books in a series if you haven't read the previous book?

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Stuffed Animal Saturday [7]

Stuffed Animal Saturday is a meme that we post here at We Live and Breathe Books every two weeks to showcase the book we're currently reading with one of our favorite stuffed animals and discuss our stuffed animal's opinion (well, it's really our opinion, but that's besides the point). We hope you enjoy our quirky feature as much as we enjoy writing it!


My trusty spoon and I are reading Path Unchosen, an eArc we received as part of the author's tour. You can find out more about Path Unchosen here and here.

So Far: I've had to force-feed Fork E. McSpork (my spoon's name; the 'E' stands for Eugene but don't tell him I said that) around half of this book. It's not to say that the book is bad, Spoon is just one of those existentialist, stuck up type of readers and doesn't appreciate a good fantasy novel for what it is. He's so full of himself I guess you could call him stuffed.

But anyway. There's a lot to love here, a deep narrator, a weird alternate world, and a paranormal zombie fiction piece that reads as though everything in it were absolutely normal. And I love that. I hate when authors over-aggrandize the authenticity of a piece by ruminating over the differences between their universe and the real world. That makes me happy. Our narrator isn't terribly relatable, but there are other characters who are and they make this story come alive with biting humor, biting statements, and also biting zombies. Zombies are cool. Also ghosts, apparently.

A Sneak Peek: 

A gentle light amidst the darkness.Was that my purpose. Could I shine a light into the blackness or would it devour me? The whispering settled to soothing background music, and excitement welled in my chest.

"Choose one," Purah said. "You will call a spirit tonight."

. . .

I didn't want to disappoint him. "It won't hurt her?"

. . .

 The ground beneath the gravestone trembled, and the top of a skull broke through the surface.

Tension is so sweet, man.

- Marlon

Are you and your stuffed animal reading anything interesting? 

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Review: Moirai - Ruth Silver

Moirai
Ruth Silver
Series: Aberrant, #2
Genre: Young Adult, Dystopian
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Word Rating: Mediocre
On Goodreads

Last week, I came to you with a review of Aberrant by Ruth Silver. Since then, I've read the sequel, Moirai, and can say that, while it was slightly better than Aberrant, it still fell short in quite a few places.

Even though some time has passed between the events of Aberrant and Moirai, it feels less like a sequel, and more like a continuation of the first one. If the 100 or so pages of each book had been fused together with an "A Few Months Later" caption before the events of Moirai, the reader would not have found it strange. Usually, you can't do that with books, but with these two it could have been highly possible. Usually books in a series, while continuing the overarching plot, have their own main plot that goes on too. While Moirai certainly had its own subplots, they weren't the strongest.

I definitely liked Olivia better in this book than in the previous one. Ruth Silver did a pretty good job developing her a little more as a character so she didn't seem so one dimensional. She also fleshed out Joshua and some of the secondary characters, which was one of two main reasons this was better than Aberrant. The other reason is that the plot was just more interesting. The first book's job was to set up everything that would happen in this book. While it didn't do the most terrific job, it still got done, and so Moirai was heavier on the action, and relied less on description of the setting and their lifestyle. And, above all, it was a hell of a lot more interesting. The story itself, especially the parts where we learn more about Olivia and exactly what makes her special (can't give away any spoilers) actually had me wanting to find out how it ends (which is with a cliffhanger leading into the next book). So yay for developing your plots more, you go Ruth Silver.

However, the more interesting story could not save Moirai from the dreaded three star rating (I know I also rated Aberrant three stars, but that was on the low end (more like 2.8) and this is on the high end (like 3.2) so there's that). The most off-putting thing was the writing style. I feel like Ruth Silver could be such a good storyteller and author but she just isn't there yet. I can see the potential for her to write great things -- these novels are not those pieces. The dialogue seemed very choppy and fake, and the internal monologue from Olivia seemed to "tell" too much and not "show" enough. The words didn't seem to flow and everything just felt very forced and unnatural. It just fell flat. The end of the book creates a cliffhanger to be addressed in the book that follows, but that wasn't done as well as it could have been and didn't leave me shocked or upset or feeling anything that I was supposed to feel as a reader. I just read it and thought "okay cool whatever." The concept was good but the delivery was not.

Overall, while Moirai wasn't the best book, it definitely improved from it's predecessor. Hopefully the next book will be better, although I don't see myself putting time aside to read it anytime soon. Usually I need to know how something ends, but I will probably forget about this cliffhanger in a few days and might never get around to knowing what happens to certain people. This book series is okay for a few days of lazy reading but it's nothing substantial I would recommend to anyone. While I won't be jumping through hoops to read more, I will definitely look out for Ruth Silver's name in the future, as she has unhoned writing skills that might develop into something awesome.

See you all next week!

- Noor

What's your favorite dystopian novel or series?

Let us know in the comments!