Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

What I Drank Prior: At least a bottle of wine and 4 beers...

Spoiler free Overview:
Okay, so there's this kid who has a grandpa who tells the greatest stories ever. He's like, these guys are out to get me and idk when. I have this past and its mysterious and blah blah blha. Gramps dies mysteriously and kid doesn't take it so well.  He goes to somewhere in Europe to try and figure out what's going on (and closure) and he gets in to some mess with the people out for his Gramps. Basically like Proffessor X and all that with the weird abilities and such... Miss Peregrine is Professor X.

Spoiler free Thoughts:
Okay, so like... I wanted to love this book. So many people loved this series (book) and I was dying to love it. i read the first half of the book in one sitting... But it just wasn't enough. I got no character development. I got no grey area. I got no paced plotline. Just thought it was liek... meh? I loved the last 20 pages. THey gave me hope for the next couple books, with the whole timeline nonsense, but it just wasnt enough to carry me on through the series.

I REALLY liked the photos... made the story better for sure.

What to pair it with: vodka orange. only because thats what everyone tells first timers to drink. V&O is like, the most basic of all basics. Teen, problem, problem fix, plot twist to carry on the series....

Rating: 2/5 Shots. I wanted to like this, I really did.

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A Study in Charlotte

by Brittany Cavallaro

Hello everyone, I hope you're all doing well.  I'm writing this on New Years Eve, having had quite a bit of really good red wine with my family while working at a ski hill in Utah.  It's been a really good quarter life crisis so far.  

Spoiler Free Whatever:

This book is a story about the descendents of Sherlock Holmes and John Watson.  "Surprisingly" the main characers of Charlotte and whatever the Watson boy's name is are exactly like their original counterparts.  Sherlock has a drug problem and is flightly and plays the violin and Watson is a bit of a brawler while player the straight man to Charlotte's Sherlock which means that this authoer clearly wanted the chance to write a little  bit of Sherlock cannon.  Once you get past the, sometimes irritating, similarities in the characters to the original the book is pretty cute.  That's not to say it's going to change anyone's life.  It's an icebox read (lol bringing it back to booze - like an icebox wine).  The story follows Watson as he starts at a new school and, surprise surprise, Sherlock goes to the school.  And of course blah blah blah family history and they pretend they aren't immediately gonna be friedns and then someone gets murdrerd.  Stuff goes on from there and some of the twists weren't fantaistic (what a surprise the murder is based off of a Sherlock story) but it was a pretty enjoyable read even though I probably won't continue with the story).

Spoilers to be found here:

Not sure how much there is to be said here.  There are a few characters that are meant to be red herrings and I was betting hard on one guy whose name I dont' quite remember now.... but regardless one of the characters, the school nurse, who I was convinced would be a red herring turned out to be the ex-fiance of the Moriarity who really didnt' have too much to do with this story.  Honeslty there was a bit of monologuing at the end which was more irritating than anything else, but the foreshadowing was there soI probably shouldn't complain too much.  That being said I hoped that more would come from the other children in the school and I was disappointed in the character arch of the creative writing teacher who I felt could have been way more interesting (I have to admit that right now I'm thinking of the science teacher from Stranger Things... he was awesome).  

What to Pair It With: 

As I said  before this is an icebox wine.  It's not amazing.  It's not gonna change anyones life, but it's pretty enjoyable and it'll get you where you want to go.

Rating:

This gets 2.5 stars out of 5.  Like I said it's a pretty cute book but there's no way I'm going to continue with the series.  (My to read list is pretty long and I haven't added everything to it yet - so not gonna bother adding this to make it even longer).  It's a cute read but it's been only like 3 or 4 days and I've forgotten a ton of the characters names, so...

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Hero of the Empire: The Boer War, a Daring Escape, and the Making of Winston Churchill

by Candice Millard

Champagne Bitches!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm going to avoid my normal headings because honestly this is furcking history.  There aren't really any spoielrs.  I think the first thing I took away from this book is that Winston Churchill is kind of a dick.  Don't get me wrong.  I still respect the hell out of thim , and I want to read abook about a later period in his life, but this book does not necessarily paint him in the best light.  Honestly he seems really manipulative, self-involved... I ran out of words but I think you get the point.

He loses an election and decisdes that the best way to improve his standing in society is to go fight in a war that the British picked becuase the Boers had managed to successfully fight them off a number of years prior.  Except that all the Brits are super excited so he can't get in as a soldier so he goes as a war correspondent.  Except that it's Winston Churchill so he can't help but to fight and gets captured and there's something going on with his dad and the Boers so everyone knows who he is.

He spends his entire time being captured whining and lazing around saying that he should be freed but the Boers hate his guts so no way is that gonna happen.  he plans to escape with two friends but takes and opportunity to leave that the others can't take advange of and kind of screws his friends over and then only manages to survive by stumbling on the right people at the right time.  

This book doesn't really show off any of the brilliance of Winston Churchill in later life.  there are moments where you can see some of the strategic genius coming through but for the most part it seems like he only succeded due to luck of meeting the right people in so many different situations.

I had a really hard time reading this book.  Part of it is that I'm in a place that makes it a little hard to pay attention to books (I've only finihsed four books this month?) and this book didnt really help.  It hink it took about 2 motnhs to read. 

If you have any particualr interest in Winston Chruchill or the Boer War this is a probably a good book.  But if you just like history, I would probably suggest that you read and Erik Larson book or Hidden Figures which I read in 2016 and was a masterpiece.

This book is a really old scotch.  I personally don't have a taste for it, butfor other people might be their cup of tea (British reference?).   Basically it could be a classic for a certain kind of person but I am very much not that person.

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The Vanishing Season by Jodi Lynn Anderson

The Vanishing Season by Jodi Lynn Anderson

What I drank prior: A whole bottle of wine plus more with no dinner... so we know how that goes....

Spoiler free overview:
So there's this chick who moved to a new town, made a couple friends, falls in love with the wrong dude, there's a serial killer goin around, blah blah blah. There's a weird ghost chick that starts each chapter, we're tryna figure out what that is. THe new girl makes friends with her neighbors, one's rich, the other is in love with the rich one. Basically the story of one summer in this small town up against one of the Great Lakes.

Spoiler free thoughts:
So, ok... I read this for book club and i REALLY wanted to like it. based on the synopsis it was right up my alley.... apparently not. It could have been great. Ther ewere so many loose ends and like.... i just... WANTED more from this.

Characters: They were fine i guess, just not super great. we're just supposed to take the weird neighbor that builds saunas for his not-gf and the not-gf just assuming that they're best friends forever and BLAH. I mean, the characters had so much potential for dpeth, and the author tried, but it just didn't pan out.

Plot: BLAHHHHHHHH. Why? I kept starting each chapter and was like... this is the one. This is the chapter something happens. It wasn't.

Writing Style: BLAHHHHHH. I have no comment here. If anything, the writing style was the strongest part of this book.

No spoilers this time because... ugh....

What to pair it with: Bud light. cause its basically blah

Rating: I think this is my first 1/5 shots this year... i wanted to like it but i really really didnt...

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Three Dark Crowns by Kendare Blake

Three Dark Crowns by Kendare Blake

What I drank prior: a bottle and a half of wine? maybe? idk i lost count

Spoiler free overview:
So basically each queen has triplets and each triplet has an ability, either poison, elements, or nature. And like, these triplets gotta fight to the death for the crown. So basically this whole story is about that.

Each queen and how their lives are and how they're gonna kill their sisters etc. ADVENTURES HAPPEN.

Spoiler free thoughts:
Ok. So I went into this thinking I was gonna love one triplet and hate the other two. Like I wanted to have a hero that I could stand behind. I DIDNT GET IT. I loved all the sisters for their own reasons. Ok. that's not really true cause I didn't really like Mari so much, but for spoilery reasons.

Characters: Seriously I love them all. They're just wonderful. Well developed and adored. I even hate the villains. They're so great.

Plot: So it wasn't super well paced. The middle was like... meh? but i enjoyed it. The ending made up for it. There were enough twists and sections that i was like "you have GOT to be fuckign kidding me...." parts that it made up for it. Like. Look. I'm all for a love story, but DONT FUCK WITH MY SHIP. I can't stand it. But it's like a hurts-so-good kinda pain.

Also, if you're not a fan of typical YA tropes, read this book. It's real good at not having them.

also i want a mountain lion

Writing Style: It wasn't gorgeous but it kept me on my toes.

Spoilerssssssss:

Okay.... here we go.

Why the actual fuck did Jason have to do that huh? Is it because of the weird pagan magic bit? Like, literally no one is drawn to someone the way he is drawn to Mari. I had one guy i met in college, that i found later in life, that i feel physically connected to, but not so much that it overcame my consent. I feel like that's what happened. He literally didn't want to fuck her but he did, and that bothered me.

Also, Petyr and the fuckin void. Like, what? And she comes back anyway so like... what?

Lastly, so nature queen is a poisoner? like, i thought mama queen qwas able to know who could do what? this makes no sense and i need to know whats up. right now. what is poison queen supposed to do now? UGHHHHH

What to pair it with: a good red wine would be fucking awesome with this book.

Rating: 4.5/5 shots. And only cause the plot lagged a bit in the middle... i seriously can't wait for the next one.

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P Reads Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan... Part 1

This is a goddam undertaking. Brb. I gotta go drink about thinking about writing about all these pages.

SOOOOOOOOOO I started wheel of time guys. I love fantasy, so it was like, time, I guess, or something. I’m gonna break up thes posts into 6 pairs, so I dont want tokill myself. This might change. Depends on rand and the team. Fornow, this fits. Lets see what Robert Jordan is working with


Book 1: Frodo Touches the “True Source”

Sam Here: Also known as Eye of the World

WOT 1: Im tiiiiiiired of the prologue/exposition of all these fantasy novels wherin a lil country bumpkin gets sucked into something bigger than him/herself, but hey, the trope works, and fuggit, it is what it is. When the 8 foot tall half-animal, murder loving “trollocs” attack the town of Two Rivers, Rand, Mat, and Perrin, get, “rescued” by this witch on the side of The Light, Moraine, and her Gunslinger Roland/human-knife, Lan swept up into a motherfucking adventure to go see the like biggest town in the country as far as they know. Why they have been selected to go is what drives the plot of the novel, and I think it’s effective.

They meet a team of characters, for good or ill, and a lot of these characters are real fucking funny, especially Thom the “gleeman”, a musician/bard with ninja knife skillz, and Lolai, the 90 year old teenage 8ft tall nerd. I lol’d a lot when reading this novel. Like in public, on the metro, looking like a loon. the degree to which this first novel is Lord of the Rings is is obtuse, however, I’m still compelled. Rand ends up having the worlds weirdest dreams featureing, like, satan, and I wanna see how they cope, I wanna know who is Samwise Gamgee, and I realy wann know if Morraine and the squad of Aes Sedai are as manipulative as they seem. I can tell something is developing there….

Will Rand’s betrothed, Egwyne give him the cheeks?! Will the town wise-woman, “the Wisdom”, Nyneve ever NOT be an insufferable bitch? Read and find out. And then read some more. Like few thousand pages more. I mean. This is book one. One has to soldier on regardless, I suppose. There are twelve of the fuckers after all.

I award this book 4.25/5 bourbon & gingers, cuz I’m warm and don’t realize I’m drunk for, like, another like 2 hours, and, like, I’ve said ‘like’, like, not that many times.

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Sam's Reading Year 2016

ALRIGHTY GUYS!!! Its time for my 2016 wrap-up....

WHAT I DRANK PRIOR: TWO BOTTLES OF WINE AND TWO 16OZ BEERS... get. off. me.

So this year was a thing. We had so many wonderful people pass on to the next life, and we lost the election to satan-spawn. So there were ups.... but more downs...

Lemmie just get to it?

THINGS THAT HAPPENED THIS YEAR:
1.  We started this blog HEYOOOOOOOO
2.  Ginny and I went to our first BookCon =) =) =)
3.  We got a second illustrated HP book... which was awesome
4.  I fucking finished the Wheel of Time series....
5.  On THAT note, it was a GREAT high-fantasy year....

As of todxay 28 Dec 16 I've read 75 books and over 40,000 pages... by FAR my best year.... Here are my top 10 and bottom 5...

BOTTOM 5:
5. Uprooted by Naomi Novik - I'M SORRY DON'T HATE ME
4. Ruin and Rising (AKA The Grisha Trilogy) by Leigh Bardugo - sorry, i have issues with this series. please comment if you want more detail as to why
3. Deep Blue by Jennifer Donnelly - I mean it was... fine. just fine...
2. The Vanishing Season by Jodi Lynn Anderson - See REVIEW HERE
1. There Once Were Stars by Melanie McFarlane - See REVIEW HERE

TOP 10!!!!!!!!
10. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
       YOOOOO I loved this book. THe writing style was beautiful, and like, I just adored it. You can see my review HERE and Parker's less enthusiastic review HERE
9.   Morning Star by Pierce Brown
      I mean.... Just. I can't. Like. The finale of one of the best series ever written. We also met him this year... and he's my bae and that's that. There were moments i had to put this book down becaus it was just soooooo . i mean. I CANT EXPLAIN IT. so good. just read it.
8.   A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab
      LOOK. This series is great. Magic and alternate realities? How often have you read a book where the MC is from one reality and there's another reality LIKE YOUR OWN but the MC isn't from that one? HUH? NO ONE???? I thought so. Just a wondergul story.
7.   Gemina by Jay Kristoff and Amie Kaufman
     SEE REVIEWS HERE
6.   THe Kingkiller Chronicles by Patrick Rothfuss
      Please read them? See our reviews HERE and HERE
5.   A Shadow Bright and Burning by Jessica Cluess
     YOOOO See review HERE. Just. Loved it. read it please.
4.   Nevernight by Jay Kristoff
     Just... cant. This was the fantasy book i've been waiting for.... see review HERE

3.   Lightbringer Series by Brent Weeks
     I know we haven't written about this yet, but like, YOU GUYS, ihaven't cared so much about characters since Harry Potter and that's not even a joke. So. Incredibly. GOod.










2.   ANYTHING COSMERE by Brandon Sanderson
      This year I read the rest of the Cosmere except one. Including The Stormlight Archive, Mistborn, Mistborn: Alloy Era, Warbreaker, and the Arcanum Unbounded novella set. The only thing i'm missing is Elantris. Seriously, so good. If you like superhero universes, pelase read Cosmere? Anything. And start anywhere, it relaly doesnt matter where.





1.   Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
 You guys if you're white and haven't read this... do it. If you're any color really, read it. Thi book is beautiful in its portrayal of african diaspora throughout time throughout the world. Like, I know that we're "taught" the suffrage of african americans in history class but we're really not. i really didn't understand until this book. and since then it's made me look at the world differently and i am so appreciative of that. if you take one recommendation from me ever in your lifetime, please make it this book.

Thank you all for reading and staying with us this year. I promise we've got more coming... We'll see you at BookCon and in the blog. We'll take your recommendations and consider your thoughts.

Comment down below on your faves of this year or if anything changed your view of the world. We'd love to hear it...

Until then, I remain forever drunkenly yours,
Sam

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