Wow, did I fail!
Okay, so I knew I wasn’t going to read ALL of the books on my TBR, but damn I thought I’d read more than 3. That isn’t to say 3 books in a week is bad; it just isn’t what I was hoping for.
Alright. Wrap-up time.
I listened to These Witches Don’t Burn by Isabel Sterling (2.5 stars), read a physical copy of Harry Potter and the Half-blood Prince by JK Rowling (5 stars), and read the e-book of The 57 Bus by Dashka Slater (5 stars). Okay, having two 5 star reads isn’t THAT bad.
These Witches Don’t Burn fell super flat for me. If you don’t know, TWDB follows high school senior and elemental witch, Hannah while she tries to get over her ex-girlfriend Veronica, also an elemental witch in the same coven, and try to solve the mysteries around their town of Salem, MA. This isn’t a full review (I didn’t take enough notes for that) but my main issues were the pacing and the characters, or I guess just the main one.
There were so many times where the plot would just drag and I would want to put it down; this happened specifically in the middle where Hannah was trying to figure out who the blood witch was. This lack of action may be due to the lack of development in Hannah’s character. From the first sign of trouble, she assumed a blood witch was to blame even with new developments proving the unlikelihood of that statement, her stance does not change.
The main characters, while both likable and relatable, lacked the necessary depth to make these characters real. The only character I really liked was Veronica and, at times, Benton. Veronica had the Jade West vibe I need in a Salem book. Benton was just adorable. No one else really had a major part at all. Seriously they aren’t even worth mentioning.
Basically, I thought this was going to be awesome and it was just kind of eh.
Harry Potter and the Half-blood Prince…. need I say more? 5 stars
THE 57 BUS THOUGH HOLY CRACKERS. This book was incredible. It followed the true story of Sasha, an agender teen from Oakland, and Richard, a black male from the wrong side of Oakland. The story opens at the close with Richard setting Sasha on fire while on the 57 bus, then traces back to each teen’s backstory, how they ended up in that situation, and what happened after. Seriously this book was incredible. 5 stars.
Overall, not too shabby!
Honestly, I could’ve done better, but I was having a bad mental health week, so I’m not mad.
Hope y’all are having an awesome week!
❤ ej
ejreads 