Dorothy Must Die Series by Danielle Paige:
For my reviews on these books I'm not going to do a full plot synopsis for each book. This is a series about a girl named Amy, who is the second girl from Kansas to land in the Land of Oz. Her mission is to kill Dorothy. Oz has been completely changed since what happened in the original novels and the movie. Amy joins the Revolutionary Order of the Wicked. The Wicked may not be a wicked as they have always seemed especially if Dorothy and her loyal followers are considered "the good".
Dorothy Must Die- Read June 15-18th
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The concept for these novels is a great one. I like when a retelling or re-imagining takes characters that in their original story are considered good and then makes them villains. The first book in the series is a great setup for the entire series. We get to know our main character and her motivations. She is learning about the world that she has just entered and it gives the audience an eye into the world that Oz has become. One of the aspects that I don't like about this book is the slow middle. I believe with a little tweaking the middle would have been fine. Overall this is a great opener for the series that I enjoyed and hoped would continue for the books. This was also my second reading of this novel and I was excited to finally read the other three books. I got the fourth signed!
The Wicked Will Rise- Read June 19- 21st
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The Wicked Will Rise is the second book in the series and it definitely for me at least, had middle book syndrome. The problem for me in the first book was the slow middle of the book. This book is almost two hundred pages less and it felt slower for me. Also the lack of descriptions bothered me. I feel that having the world of Oz at your disposal should give plenty of room for great descriptions and story. Now, I'm not saying that I hated this book because I did not but it is my least favorite of the series. The size of this and the rest of the books scared me when I first saw them. They are each at least two-hundred pages less than the first.
The End of Oz- Read June 25th
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The last book in the series (Oh it better be! Ugh), was a good book until the ending. I like where the romance ends up and also Amy as a character. The solution in this novel that she finally figures out was not something that I was expecting and it sort of wrecked my heart reading it. Then Danielle
Paige goes and ruins it with the ending. We got a happy ending of sorts but then she goes and makes it open ended. I don't know if this is the last book or if we will have more. If there is I may read it depending on when it comes out. I don't want to have to reread these books to read another.
Overall the series is good though I'm not sure if it should have been the four books. I believe that a good amount of some of the books could have been cut out to make this let's say a two book series. Three at the most. I did like the first, third, and fourth books and some of the second. It is an interesting take on the Oz books and I like how Danielle Paige pulls in aspects from other books in the Oz series other than The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. I don't know where I stand on this series as a whole but I did enjoy it enough.
My Month As A Whole:
This was a pretty good reading month for me since I read fourteen books. I will say though that I did not read all of the books that I had planned out for myself. That was due to how much I have been writing this month and also not feeling like reading the books. April, May, and June were experiments for me with picking out a list of books to read that I wanted to during the month. This I thought would be similar to reading for my college classes. It was to an extent but I know that it was not a good idea for me.
I have never done this for myself before and really have always read what I felt like reading. I wanted to try it out these months and it worked for the most part. Well at least for April and May.
I'm not going to try and force myself to read anything during the months that follow. Next month will be a themed month because I always read the same books during July. I will have a post dedicated to talking about that.
What I learned from this experiment is to not try to force myself into picking books for the month at such an extensive amount. I'm a mood reader and always will be. July like I said is going to be themed month but that is my tradition that I started back in 2012. Next month is going to be exciting.
I cannot wait.
List of some of the books I read this month:
Random Illustrated Facts by Mike Lowery- Read June 2nd
This book will be coming out October 31st 2017
📚📚📚📚
This book was so cute but also very informative. I love books that have facts in them and have read many different books similar to this with random facts. A great part of this book is the illustrations. I know that this author is popular for his illustrated children's books and I can see why from this. His illustrations are often quite funny in this book and are a great addition to the facts within the book. Also just so interesting and weird. Many I had heard before but then there were many that I had never seen before. I think this book is a neat little book that may interest many people. I enjoyed my reading of it and am glad that I got the chance to read it.
This is an adorable book that I thoroughly enjoyed during the month. The illustrations and the story are just so cute. This is about a quirky school that a young girl named Dani goes to. They try to enter into a film contest to show their love for where they live and hilarity ensues. This is the second in a series of two books so far. It was a quick and easy read. Perfect for young ones but again I will say I enjoyed it. It was funny and had the right types of quirks. I would pick up another one of the books if she ever wrote more.
He embarks on a grand tour of Europe in an attempt to have all the fun he possibly can before he has to help his father with the family estate. His father is greatly against Monty's lifestyle and is forcing Monty to start behaving himself or he will lose his inheritance. Monty takes his childhood best friend, Percy on the journey, who he helplessly loves and adores. Also, he has his sister too. Their trip goes off track after they find a mysterious object that leads them from Paris to Venice in a manhunt, fighting highwaymen, pirates, and forbidden feelings for each other.
For my reviews on these books I'm not going to do a full plot synopsis for each book. This is a series about a girl named Amy, who is the second girl from Kansas to land in the Land of Oz. Her mission is to kill Dorothy. Oz has been completely changed since what happened in the original novels and the movie. Amy joins the Revolutionary Order of the Wicked. The Wicked may not be a wicked as they have always seemed especially if Dorothy and her loyal followers are considered "the good".
Dorothy Must Die- Read June 15-18th
📚📚📚📚
The concept for these novels is a great one. I like when a retelling or re-imagining takes characters that in their original story are considered good and then makes them villains. The first book in the series is a great setup for the entire series. We get to know our main character and her motivations. She is learning about the world that she has just entered and it gives the audience an eye into the world that Oz has become. One of the aspects that I don't like about this book is the slow middle. I believe with a little tweaking the middle would have been fine. Overall this is a great opener for the series that I enjoyed and hoped would continue for the books. This was also my second reading of this novel and I was excited to finally read the other three books. I got the fourth signed!
The Wicked Will Rise- Read June 19- 21st
📚📚📚
The Wicked Will Rise is the second book in the series and it definitely for me at least, had middle book syndrome. The problem for me in the first book was the slow middle of the book. This book is almost two hundred pages less and it felt slower for me. Also the lack of descriptions bothered me. I feel that having the world of Oz at your disposal should give plenty of room for great descriptions and story. Now, I'm not saying that I hated this book because I did not but it is my least favorite of the series. The size of this and the rest of the books scared me when I first saw them. They are each at least two-hundred pages less than the first.
Yellow Brick War-- Read June 22- 24th
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The next book in the series Yellow Brick War was a book that I was not really excited for I will say that. After the second book, I felt that the series would just continue to lose me. I wanted to finish the series because I don't like not finishing them. The beginning took me a little to get into. Two days of it. When I got to around page seventy or so I got hooked so hard on the book. I loved what happened in this book and I really don't understand that. This is one of the most hated in the series and I can see some of the flaws that people point out but I love that. I'm not going to mention any of the plot points since this is the third of a series but I love where Amy ends up in the beginning of the book.The End of Oz- Read June 25th
📚📚📚📚
The last book in the series (Oh it better be! Ugh), was a good book until the ending. I like where the romance ends up and also Amy as a character. The solution in this novel that she finally figures out was not something that I was expecting and it sort of wrecked my heart reading it. Then Danielle
Paige goes and ruins it with the ending. We got a happy ending of sorts but then she goes and makes it open ended. I don't know if this is the last book or if we will have more. If there is I may read it depending on when it comes out. I don't want to have to reread these books to read another.
Overall the series is good though I'm not sure if it should have been the four books. I believe that a good amount of some of the books could have been cut out to make this let's say a two book series. Three at the most. I did like the first, third, and fourth books and some of the second. It is an interesting take on the Oz books and I like how Danielle Paige pulls in aspects from other books in the Oz series other than The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. I don't know where I stand on this series as a whole but I did enjoy it enough.
My Month As A Whole:
This was a pretty good reading month for me since I read fourteen books. I will say though that I did not read all of the books that I had planned out for myself. That was due to how much I have been writing this month and also not feeling like reading the books. April, May, and June were experiments for me with picking out a list of books to read that I wanted to during the month. This I thought would be similar to reading for my college classes. It was to an extent but I know that it was not a good idea for me.
I have never done this for myself before and really have always read what I felt like reading. I wanted to try it out these months and it worked for the most part. Well at least for April and May.
I'm not going to try and force myself to read anything during the months that follow. Next month will be a themed month because I always read the same books during July. I will have a post dedicated to talking about that.
What I learned from this experiment is to not try to force myself into picking books for the month at such an extensive amount. I'm a mood reader and always will be. July like I said is going to be themed month but that is my tradition that I started back in 2012. Next month is going to be exciting.
I cannot wait.
List of some of the books I read this month:
Random Illustrated Facts by Mike Lowery- Read June 2nd
This book will be coming out October 31st 2017
📚📚📚📚
This book was so cute but also very informative. I love books that have facts in them and have read many different books similar to this with random facts. A great part of this book is the illustrations. I know that this author is popular for his illustrated children's books and I can see why from this. His illustrations are often quite funny in this book and are a great addition to the facts within the book. Also just so interesting and weird. Many I had heard before but then there were many that I had never seen before. I think this book is a neat little book that may interest many people. I enjoyed my reading of it and am glad that I got the chance to read it.
I received this for free for an honest review.
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll- Read June 1-2nd
I have a full review of this already on my blog. If you want to read it here is the link: http://whattoreadwithcag.blogspot.com/2017/06/alices-adventures-in-wonderland-review.html
I also watched the 1951 Disney movie version: http://whattoreadwithcag.blogspot.com/2017/06/disneys-alice-in-wonderland-1951-movie.html
St. Grizzle's School for Girls, Ghost and Runaway Grannies by Karen McCombie-
Read June 5-7th
Released June 2017
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This is an adorable book that I thoroughly enjoyed during the month. The illustrations and the story are just so cute. This is about a quirky school that a young girl named Dani goes to. They try to enter into a film contest to show their love for where they live and hilarity ensues. This is the second in a series of two books so far. It was a quick and easy read. Perfect for young ones but again I will say I enjoyed it. It was funny and had the right types of quirks. I would pick up another one of the books if she ever wrote more.
I received this for free for an honest review.
I recommend reading it.
Heartless by Marissa Meyer- Read June 6th-9th
Another favorite of the month that I have already done a review for. I completely recommend reading this book. Here is a link for my review: http://whattoreadwithcag.blogspot.com/2017/06/heartless-by-marissa-meyer.html
Aftercare Instructions by Bonnie Pipkin
Released on June 27th
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This is a stunning book that almost made me cry multiple times while I was reading. I enjoy books with different formats and instantly wanted to read this book. Half of the novel is written in prose where we are getting what is happening to our main character, Genesis after she has an abortion. (This is not a spoiler because it mentioned in the description) The other half of the book is written in a script format showing what happened to Genesis in the past. We switched back and forth between these two different times learning bits and pieces of the story over time. I am going to say that this was a bit jarring at times. The formatting and the way that Bonnie wrote was beautiful but the switch took me out of it two or three times.
I recommend this to anyone that wants to be touched by a beautiful book. It is sad but also heartwarming at the same time. I will definitely be buying this book for myself. Gorgeous.
I received this for free for an honest review.
And finally...
The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee- Read June 27-28th
📚📚📚📚📚- I would give it more than this if I could
This book is one of the funniest books I have read of all time. So far it is my second favorite book of the year right below 180 Seconds by Jessica Park. I had been anticipating this book for six months and as soon as I received it I got so excited. This book takes place in the 18th century. Our main character Henry "Monty" Montague was raised to be a gentleman but he is a far cry from even being close to this. He would rather go out gambling, get drunk, and sleep around with anyone that he can.
He embarks on a grand tour of Europe in an attempt to have all the fun he possibly can before he has to help his father with the family estate. His father is greatly against Monty's lifestyle and is forcing Monty to start behaving himself or he will lose his inheritance. Monty takes his childhood best friend, Percy on the journey, who he helplessly loves and adores. Also, he has his sister too. Their trip goes off track after they find a mysterious object that leads them from Paris to Venice in a manhunt, fighting highwaymen, pirates, and forbidden feelings for each other.
This book is hilarious and had me laughing so loudly that I disturbed my cat at multiple times. 🙀
I loved the characters in this story and just could not get enough of them. Monty is so bad in this story and does so many stupid things but I could not help but love him. The romance was adorable. His sister, Felicity was an amazing female character that held strong in a world of the past. After reading the book I found out there is going to be a sequel next year with her as the lead. I will 100% be picking up that book.
Overall this is one of the best books that I read this year and held up to my high expectations for it. Also, the cover and book are stunning. The map is awesome.
All I can say is read it. But be prepared for cuteness, some inappropriate behavior, butt-kicking characters, and one of the best historical fiction novels. At least to me.
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