Review: The Loose Ends List - Carrie Firestone

The Loose Ends List
Carrie Firestone 
Series: N/A
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
Goodreads 

Thanks to Little, Brown Books for Young Readers for the ARC received at BEA!

Ya'll, I'm back. And as luck would have it, the first book I'm actually reviewing in a really long time ended up being a not so great one (sigh). I /promise/ I'll review something I really enjoyed soon but for now stick with me as we delve into The Loose Ends List, which Kiersten picked up as an ARC from this years BEA (which I sadly could not attend because finals and 1500 miles away). 

Alright, so I'm not going to lie to you and say that I was super excited to read this book at the start -- I wasn't, but I'm all about giving things chances because you never know what you might love, right? Wrong. So the premise of the book is that our main protagonist Maddie is a girl who lives a pretty cushy life and then one day before she makes her way to college, her Gram who is apparently on the brink of death, decides that her whole family should go on some cruise so that they might have the summer of their dreams and cope with the grief to come or something. This wasn't the issue I had with the book, it seemed kind of confusing but a lot of books have weird family backgrounds to make the plot work, so I genuinely thought that might be interesting. What concerned me was this:

Soon, Maddie is on the trip of a lifetime with her over-the-top family. As they travel the globe, Maddie bonds with other passengers and falls for Enzo, who is processing his own grief. But despite the laughter, headiness of first love, and excitement of glamorous destinations, Maddie knows she is on the brink of losing Gram. She struggles to find the strength to say good-bye in a whirlwind summer shaped by love, loss, and the power of forgiveness.

What is posted above is from the blurb. Read this and tell me right now that Maddie falling in her "first love" with Enzo on some death cruise doesn't scream insta-love to you. BUT NONETHELESS, I read the book.

Alright so you guys might have been confused about the death cruise -- don't worry, Gram didn't set them up for a depressing Carnival cruise while everyone else around them partied away happily. This is some sort of ominous cruise in which everyone can "die with dignity." I honestly still think its a pretty weird concept but unique enough, and it was honestly the most interesting thing about the book, so thats where this book's points come from.

Anyway, whilst dying with dignity, our characters travel the globe -- the descriptions of the actual countries were cool but the descriptions of the people who lived in the countries weren't. More on that later. But the actual discussion of death in all of this was done pretty well in my opinion; the book would've benefitted greatly if only death was more relevant and Enzo as a character was just completely cut out.

Okay now that I've sufficiently explained the only real perks about the book, let me tackle what I wasn't a fan of. I've read quite a few reviews of this book that discuss how funny it is and honestly, while I'm all for a well placed penis joke, this was just ridiculous. I am a person who laughs out loud at books when they are funny, and I promise you I didn't laugh even once during this book. Alright, moving past the humor, the characters: Maddie was honestly so annoying. Her instalove with Enzo was predictable and so quick that it didn't make any sense to be her "first love." Everything outside of the death conversation was just so /predictable/. Instalove. Maddie was a rich white girl from a rich white family who did rich things. Her friends and family are described through flat static descriptions -- slut. alcoholic. the nice one. overly honest grandma. the virgin. The humor was so centered around these stereotypical/archaic ideas of what people should be -- I'm not joking when I say 99% of the humor was about penises and poop (Maddie has IBS for literally no real reason other than to make some crude jokes). 

The plot was vaguely interesting but the characters were honestly written so statically that I had no interest in even trying to like them slowly over the course of the book. Overall, not a fan. However, this book has really great reviews and I only saw a few that saw the book from my point of view, so there's a pretty good chance you might like it! Let me know how you feel so I have someone to talk about this with :)

- Amrutha

How would you tie up your loose ends?

Let us know in the comments!

Review: A Court of Thorns and Roses - Sarah J. Maas

A Court of Thorns and Roses
Sarah J. Maas
Series: A Court of Thorns and Roses, #1
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Romance
Publisher: Bloomsbury Children's
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Goodreads 

I'm not sure if I've mentioned this on this blog before, but I really love faeries as a Concept. Like, in literature, in fairytales, in folklore. So I knew I was late to the ACOTAR train because I read it a month after the sequel came out, but when I saw there were faeries involved I knew I was hella late to the party.

ALSO, on Goodreads, the book description says the book "blend[s] Beauty and the Beast with faerie lore" so you know it's a retelling but the summary on my physical book did not tell me that so I went in blind and halfway through I was like "haha this is like Beauty and the Beast" and I thought I was so smart but no it's literally marketed that way, I'm just a moron.

Basically the book is about this girl, Feyre, who kills a wolf who turns out to be a faerie and her "life for a life" punishment is to live out the rest of her life at the estate of the High Fae, Tamlin.

Anyway, this was the first Sarah J. Maas book I've read and it was so good, I'm ashamed her other work got buried in my to-read pile. She does such a fantastic job not only world-building but character developing. I'm hoping all of you are familiar with the story of Beauty and the Beast (and if you're not please go watch the movie and come back or I'm not tryna associate with you thx) and you know that one of the key aspects of the story is the character development and the relationship between the characters (For the sake of simplicity, when I refer to Beauty and the Beast, I'm just gonna be referring to the Disney movie because that's probably the most widely known version and I don't remember the full details of the original). Similarly, in ACOTAR, we spend a lot of the book developing and establishing the relationships between the characters we've met thus far.

This makes the pacing a little slow -- the real ~action~ isn't until the very end -- but Sarah J. Maas gets away with it for a few reasons:

1. It's a retelling and it stays within its form. Beauty and the Beast the movie spent the entire movie solidifying their love in the castle and then in the last ten minutes there was a village riot. This was a lot more intricate than that but because it had that foundation, readers are already expecting to spend time in a certain place. 
2. We're in a new setting and there's a lot to explore, so it's not like we're reading the same every day scene over and over again, we're getting something new with every page. 
3. The point where all the action culminates is led up to and hinted at so there are still ~things~ going on besides characters talking to each other. 

I know I've said a few things about character development but haven't said anything about actual characters. The first characters we encounter are Feyre's family and I was really impressed with how that story arc unfolded but I was really angrily dumbstruck in the beginning with their dynamic and that's all I'll say now. Feyre herself honestly made me a little angry at times, mostly because she just refused to do things out of spite (same though), or she just made blatantly unsafe decisions. I admired her gut and her strength for the most part though. I think my favorite character would have to be Lucien. Tamlin owns the estate Feyre is now staying at and Lucien is the emissary but they're like bffs (Tamlin and Lucien) and also Lucien is highkey mean to Feyre and puts up with zero percent of her nonsense. He's so sarcastic and hilarious and bitter and I lowkey ship him and Feyre which is a boat no one else is on. Meanwhile Tamlin is sweet, kind, and collected. A true gentleman. I love him as well and I think the understanding he has with Feyre is lovely. Of course, later on we meet Rhysand because you can never have too many faerie boys in black leather clothing, and he's got the whole ~mysterious terrifying mind control~ air to him which I think will probably be explored in the next book. 

There were more people, obviously, and also a lot more to say about even those few people, but this is a short, spoiler-free review, so I'm moving on. I really liked seeing the world through Feyre's eyes. As an artist, she saw the world in an interesting way. Sometimes it could get a little old seeing her suppress it because it would be like ~~I would look at the purple in the sky right now but it's not useful to me so I'm not going to~~ a few times in succession but it never got too much that I didn't enjoy the book. And there were always gems of prose that balanced it out. For example, way in the beginning, she describes: 

"The world was awash in hues of dark blue, interrupted only by shafts of buttery light escaping from the shuttered windows of our dilapidated cottage. It was like sliding through a living painting -- a fleeting moment of stillness, the blue swiftly shifting to solid darkness."

This was like nine pages in but it told me I made the right choice picking this book. 

Anyway, there isn't a whole lot more I can say without spoiling the book. Basically, the characters were amazing, and the stuff that happened was amazing. Basically, go read the book. One final point, that may sound silly, but is 100% serious: I think pronunciation guides should be at the front of books because I read through that entire book pronouncing Rhysand as (Rice-and) and now I flip to the last page and it's REECE???? It's already embedded into my brain for eternity. I'm not gonna stop calling him Rice!!!! I'd probably be calling Feyre "Fair" if there wasn't a dialogue scene where her sister says "fay-ruh." This has been a PSA. Bring pronunciation guides up front. 

Peace out. 

- Noor

Additional thoughts from Kiersten

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Ok, so I read A Court of Thorns and Roses a while back. I meant to write a review, but I didn't, and now it feels like there is too much time between us for me to write a full review. However, I did just want to say how much I absolutely loved A Court of Thorns and Roses! The entire book was such a quick, exciting read for me. I love all of Sarah J. Maas's work, and even though I thought for sure this could not live up to the Throne of Glass series, it totally did and was so amazing. I am forever shamed for doubting the great Sarah J. Maas.

Anyway, if you haven't read A Court of Thorns and Roses or Throne of Glass yet, I'm not sure what you're waiting for. Strong female characters, incredible worlds, action, romance, magic, etc. Just pick one up and see for yourself.

- Kiersten

What's your favorite creature of lore?
Let us know in the comments!

Waiting on Wednesday: Change Places with Me - Lois Metzger

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Breaking the Spine that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

This week I'm waiting on Change Places with Me by Lois Metzger!

Change Places with Me
Lois Metzger
Series: N/A
Release Date: June 14, 2016
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Waited on by: Kiersten
Goodreads

Rose has changed. She still lives in the same neighborhood with her stepmother and goes to the same high school with the same group of kids, but when she woke up today, something was just a little different than it was before. The dogs who live upstairs are no longer a terror. Her hair and her clothes all feel brand-new. She wants to throw a party—this from a girl who hardly ever spoke to her classmates before. There is no more sadness in her life; she is bursting with happiness.

But something still feels wrong to Rose. Because, until very recently, Rose was an entirely different person—a person who is still there inside her, just beneath the thinnest layer of skin.


I stumbled upon Change Places with Me a while back on Edelweiss and I've been thinking about it ever since. The blurb is pretty vague and there aren't many reviews for it yet, but it sounds really interested. I'm not sure when I'll get around to reading this but I definitely want to soon!

- Kiersten

What are you waiting on?

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Review: Museum of Heartbreak - Meg Leder

Museum of Heartbreak
Meg Leder 
Series: N/A
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Goodreads 

Thanks to Simon & Schuster for the eARC I received via NetGalley!

Museum of Heartbreak follows Penelope Marx as her world is being sort of turned upside down. She's been living a happy life, devoid of a lot of change. But then things start to change - Pen doesn't get along with her best friend Audrey's new bestie, the new boy in town seems to be interested in her, and things with her other best friend Eph are getting Weird. Pen struggles to accept that things are changing, experiencing many different heartbreaks in the process.

Penelope is sort of clueless when it comes to navigating change - it's kind of like "Stick to the Status Quo" is the theme song to her life - she's fully content with having her two best friends and continuing to love the things she's always loved, and she doesn't understand when her friendship dynamic starts changing. Pen is certainly stubborn and stuck in her ways, but at the heart of it, she's scared - she's not sure what's going to happen with her relationships and it's terrifying. The way Meg Leder portrays all of Pen's emotions - happiness and giddiness turned sadness, rage, bitterness, and more - perfectly captures her complete heartbreak.

Besides Pen, the supporting characters of Museum of Heartbreak are also extremely well built. I think it's fair to say that everyone knows a Cherisse and a Keats, but even more, the way Pen's friendships with Eph and Audrey evolve and change is something I think everyone can relate to in some way. I absolutely loved Eph!!! He was Best Friend Goals. And then, of course, there were Grace and Miles, who were so sweet and well developed even though they weren't a huge part of the plot. A+ character development from Meg Leder all around.

The introduction into this book is so cute, especially once you get to the end and it comes full circle. Each chapter of the book corresponds to one item that Pen has put in her "Museum of Heartbreak," and at the end we find out why she decides to "curate" this museum. Such a fun concept, and the way all the chapters were labeled with photos was so cute!

All in all, Museum of Heartbreak is simultaneously an extremely heartbreaking and heartwarming story; it definitely gave me all the feels. This is by far one of my favorite contemporary, coming-of-age stories I've read in a long time, and I highly recommend it! I loved this debut, and I look forward to reading more from Meg Leder!

- Kiersten

What's your favorite kind of dinosaur?

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Stuffed Animal Saturday: And I Darken - Kiersten White

Stuffed Animal Saturday is a meme that we post here at We Live and Breathe Books 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 Saturday, me and Grumpy Puff are reading And I Darken by (my name twin) Kiersten White!

So far: We're only 20 pages into And I Darken right now, but Grumpy Puff is really enjoying it! She likes how Lada has a tendency towards biting people. Grumpy Puff thinks they probably deserve it and much more misery. She can't wait to see Lada become even more vicious as the book continues.

Sneak peek: Speaking of biting, here's a passage where Lada bites someone. (It's from the ARC, so it may vary from the final copy!)

Lada stood as tall as her short, stocky legs allowed. "This is my home! I am the Order of the Dragon! I kill infidels!" 

One of the three men accompanying Vlad murmured something in Turkish. The nurse felt sweat breaking out on her face, her neck, her back. Would they kill a child for threatening them? Would her father allow it? Or would they simply kill her for being unable to control Lada? 

Vlad smiled indulgently at his daughter's display, then bowed his head at the three men. They returned the bow and swept out, acknowledging neither the nurse nor her disobedient charge. "How many infidels have you killed?" Vlad's voice, this time in the melodic romance language tones of Wallachian, was smooth and cold. 

"Hundreds." Lada pointed the knife at Radu, who hid his face against the nurse's shoulder. "I killed that one this morning." 

"And will you kill me now?" 

Lada hesitated, lowering her hand. She stared at her father, recognition seeping across her face like milk dropped in clear water. As quick as a snake, Vlad snatched the knife out of her hand, then grabbed her by the ankle and lifted her in the air. 

"And how," he said, her upside-down face level with his, "did you think you could kill someone bigger, stronger, and smarter than you?" 

"You cheated!" Lada's eyes burned with a look the nurse had come to dread. That look meant injury, destruction, or fire. Often all three. 

"I won. That is all that matters." 

With a scream, Lada twisted herself up and bit her father's hand.

And I Darken hits shelves June 28th, so look out for a review near the end of this month!

- Kiersten

Are you and your stuffed animal reading anything interesting? 

Let us know in your own Stuffed Animal Saturday!