This Shattered World by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner

This Shattered World by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner

What I drank prior: 7ish beers? maybe? i lost count.

Spoiler-free overview:
Not much I can say really without spoiling the last book except Jubilee and Flynn shouldn't have met. In the same way Tarver and Lilac shouldn't have met. Sci-fi crazy unknown shit happens. We gotta make sure that Lilac's dad doesn't eff shit up.

Spoiler-free thoughts:
So look, I wanted more of my fave couple. But i got these two instead...

Writing style: the same i loved it... i'm trash for it just deal

Characters: I didn't want to like Jubilee and Flynn but I did. I spent the whole book wanting more Tarver and Lilac but I fell in love with the enxt two and they're wodnerful.

Plot: While similar to book one it was VASTLY different in that there were side characters. Book 1 didnt' have any... this book had a ton. That helped the plot significantly. It served to provide more evidence to Lilac's charges to her daddio.

Spoilers:

So like.. what the actual fuck are the whispers and why did they choose this planet. I was really not a fan of the romance cause like... i predicted it from the start. Not a fan of that. I liek slow burnign romances and would prefer the two MCs not fall in love but ok. ALSO, I really hope they figure out this whole whispers thing.

What to pair it with: sex on the beach... because its delicious but you hate drinking it

Rating: 3/5 shots

I remain forever drunkenly yours,
Sam

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Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor

Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor

What I drank prior: all of the beers. literally all of them in my apartment

Spoiler-free overview:
I won an advanced copy of this book through Goodreads and this is a free and honest review.

Okay. so how do i even begin to explain this book. There's this orphan named Lazlo who is obsessed with a legend some mysterious world. Miraculously, the legendary race shows up and asks for help in a mystery that has plagued their people for over two centuries. Lazlo somehow manages an ivitation on this envoy. When he gets there thigns are not waht they seem.

ALSO, there's this chick... Sarai... she lives in the legendary city... a daughter of a god... and no one knows she exists....

ADVENTURES HAPPEN

Spoiler-free thoughts:
Wow guys this book was absolutely stunning. I wasn't the biggest fan of Laini Taylors other series A Daughter of Smoke and Bone, but this... I LOVED.

Writing Style: Laini Taylor has this wondrful way of sucking you in with her use of language. It sounds like peotry all the time. Its gorgeous and enticing and stunning and I ujst loved it.

Characters: Holy crap do i love them. I love the "heros" i love the villains i love the side characters i love the main characters i love them all. Lazlo is just an adorable dude who doesn't learn wuickly or easily, but he works hard. Sarai is only trying to take care of her family and WOW her power is probably the coolest most unique thing i've ever read.
Other characters:
- Leader of Envoy: such great development over the course fo the book.
- Minya: well... just... again so well developed
- Feral: ugh
- Nero: haha... that name though...

World Building: How do i even begin to review this world. Its so unique. "Humans" have two hearts. Yeah you heard me. Two. One pumps blood, boring. The OTHER, pumps spirit... this clear crap that pumps through your body in the same manner as blood does. You can live without spirit but you're boring then. Or something like that. It's ridiculous. Like, it breaks a lot of world building rules but in such a great way. The POWERS the MAGIC SYSTEM its literally nothing you've ever seen. (and i've seen a lot)

Plot: It was incredibly well paced, not-super action-packed but still exciting. Learning about the world and about the characters are like.. the first half, but you don't even notice. Seriously, you don't. The love story doesn't even START until like... 2/3 in. And it was super cute. I DIED in the end with that plot twist. I just... cant.

Again, no spoilers as the book doesn't come out until March 28 and you can get it... here

What to pair it with: Really expensive Champagne.

Rating: 5/5 shots. Hands. Down.

I remain forever drunkenly yours,
Sam

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The Women in the Castle by Jessica Shattuck

The Women in the Castle by Jessica Shattuck

What I Drank Prior: 6 beersssssss I haven't drank in a while shut up

Spoiler-free Overview:
Lets begin to say that I've been given an advanced copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Scenery - post-WW2 Germany. There's one woman, Marianne, wife of a resister to the Nazis, who supports her husbadn's cause. Her best friend from growing up... is also a co-conspirator in the assassination attempt of Herr Hitler. She promises the group that she'd take care of the wives of those who were also conspirators.  Anywho, the book follows the Marianne, Beniza (the beautiful wife of Marianne's bff), and Ania (mysterious Polish woman with two kids). They take care of eachother and how they survive a worn torn country. K that.

Spoiler-free Thoughts:
Woah. Ok. So yeah.

Writing Style: Beautiful. The ened.

Characters: I LOVED these caharters. Seriously, they're wonderful. I have some spoiler-y thoughts but the book isnt out yet so I'm not gonna say nothing until after. I have trouble with this particular time in history and empathizing with some things. But I really loved them all.

Plot: Super great. Like SUPER great. The author does a good job figuring out time streams. Straight Doctor Who style... Well done Ms. Shattuck.

No spoilers because this was an ARC and i can't. This book comes out on March 28th and you can get it... here

What to pair it with: plum shnapps.. you'll nkow why

Rating: 4/5 shots: only because i have trouble empathizing with certain folk of this era in history.

I remain forever drunkenly yours,
Sam

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Grunt: The Curious Science of Humans at War by Mary Roach

Welp.  It's been a while.  And even though I'm in the mountians I kind of managed to make my own Dr. Night (mostly due to Sam texting me - We're on your favorite episode - so I quickly turned on the chromecast and mostly watched it with them) and now, blaming the altitutde, I got drunk off or way fewer beers than I'm used to getting me drunk... thanks altitude?

I bring you Grunt by Mary Roach because I go between fiction and non-fiction and I literally finished this book today and I freaking love Mary Roach so this is what your'e getting.

The full title is Grunt: The Curious Science of Humans at War.

The thing to know about Mary Roach is she will take a subject that interests her and then ask all of the questions no one thinks to ask (if you have any interest she's written books about whether or not there is an afterlife by interviewing scientists who tried to weigh a human soul, there was a book about how the human digestion system works where she explains how people figured shit out and boy is the history there freaking weird (think someone decided that every bite of food should be chewed 100 times weird) and a book about the history of the science of sex which was hysterical and cringeworthy (I read the book for a book club and lets just say none of the men attended that session becuase they didn't want to think about debridement - for your sake don't look that up)).

This book focuses the strategy of how to win a war, but not on the battlefiedl, but by being preapred.  Chapters follow things like; how do the uniforms get designed, how the military decided they wanted to fight fucking sharks and how to use smell to fight a war.  Basically she looks at the overlooked parts of how a war is fought from how fire-proof clothing is worn to how they figure out how explosives harm a human body (spoiler alert, they use cadavers) and how to protect peoples hearing (I've temporarily lost my words - EAR PLUGS... ear plugs vs a headset system.

I'll be honest here.  If anyone is interested in getting into non-fiction there are two authors that I tout.  Erik Larson and Mary Roach.  She approaches issues that I've never thought about, and if someone just straight up asked me about them, I probably wouldn't care.  But she isn't afraid to ask the sometimes silly questions, or to make jokes about startling serious topics.

The footnotes in this are the nonfiction version of Terry Pratchett's footnotes, which is to say hysterical and sometimes alarming.

I'm going to go into a little more detail here: It was fascinating to get a look into something most people aren't going to see.  There are labs set up that 

That being said, I don't think this is her strongest foray into a subject.  Part of that is a personal bias.  I don't really care about why the military decided to try to fight sharks (the chapter I thought was the weakest) and there were so many names that I tended to stop paying attention to them and just try to understand the personality behind them.

Rating: The rest of this is so jumbled but I'm going to keep all of this stuff more organized.  This gets 4 out of 5 shots.  She still manages to get me to care about a topic I hadn't really thought about (becuase how many people think about how uniforms

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And I Darken by Kiersten White

And I Darken by Kiersten White

What I Drank Prior:  A whole bottle of wine and a 6 pack of beer... Sam is DRUNK

Spoiler free Overview:
This is a gender-swapped Vlad the Impaler story. You look at the cover and you think fantasy... its not... its historical fiction. This chick, Lada, (also known as Vlad the Impaler), is a child in her nursery... goes on to her early adult life with her brother. Her dad sent her as insurance for his empire to the Ottomans. Her and her brother made friends with the third in line.. who (obviously) ends up the sultan. Its all about getting back to homeland and the conflicts of growing up with your enemy and its wonderful...

Spoiler free thoughts:
I LOVE THIS BOOK. So I've been in a vicious mood for the last few days... i live in DC... its week 1 of Trumps admin... I'M ANGRY! I needed a book like this...

Characters: Long story short? I loved them. The three mains, Lada, Radu, and Mehmed are BAE. Their relationship is something that grows over time. Their back-stories are wonderful. You can (sorta) see who's gonna be the bad guy, but its actually kind of great. The characters are what make this story... Also.... LGBTQIA+ is a thing in this book. Also, its not a big deal. Its just wnderful.

Plot: Okay, so the plot is good... but its very clearly a character driven story. There are things that happen, but in MY opinion its all about how those plot arcs help the characters grow. It was great.

Writing Style: To be completely honest I paid zero attention to this because i was so mad that i cared more about Lada and her viciousness than anything else... Side note: I LOVED how she characterized Islam and its religion. She didn't make it about jihad or about violence or whatever. She showed that the religion itself is beautiful and peaceful. I just loved it.

**No Spoiler-y thoughts because its history and everyone should know... and I'm too drunk to tell the difference...**

What to pair it with: FUCKING WHISKEY. Ok. I don't drink dark liquor but if any case called for it... this is it... holy shit.

Rating: 4/5 shots. I loved it but it was predictable. Gonna finish the series and LOVED THIS BOOK, just knew what the issues/problems/plot twists were because I know the story of Vlad the Impaler.

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