Hello and welcome to my mid-month check in! I am so excited to say the first half of December has been such an improvement reading wise than last month by a long shot. I was worried I was going to be ending the year in a slump, but it seems like that is not the case. So, on to the books!
Intuitive Tarot: 31 Days to Learn to Read Tarot Cards and Develop Your Intuition by Brigit Esselmont
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I have very mixed feelings about this book. On the one hand I though it was very informational and good for a beginner. On the other hand it started rubbing me the wrong way with the amount of self promotion in this book.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I am all for authors and stuff making money, but reading this book I was pulled out of reading about tarot to get essentially an ad to go to the authors website to download something, read something, or join something I need to pay for. There are at least 31 bolded urls in the book. At least 14 of them are for something you pay additionally for. So, the author is getting money via sign ups after free trials or outright purchases or sign ups for a course and ad revenue due to increase traffic.
Now, like I said, I can totally get wanting to want to drive more people to your site. The problem is with how frequent and how it is presented in the text. It seriously pulled me out of my reading so many times. Also, one of the free items was a 6 page download that could have easily been added to the book already. Now, at first I thought this might be because the author wanted to only present new things in the book, but that is not that case. There were a few things I read on the website already that were also in the book. (Example Day 22: Creating a Sacred Space).
Now, with that all out of the way. The information in this book is really informative and I think it is broken down very well. The information is done in short bursts and you have activities you can work with to get a hands on experience. It really is wonderful for beginners. If you don’t mind bolded self promotion throughout your reading experience and you have not read a lot on the website I say give it a go.
A Constellation of Roses by Miranda Asebedo
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
*Book given for review by Wunderkind PR*
“I thought this was an amazing read, it could easily be one of my top books of the year. As I have said the author is very talented. Her writing is well balanced and easily creates a world and characters that the reader can fall into with out a problem. I was engaged in the story from page one and I wanted more when it was over. I highly recommend this book to anyone.” Blurb taken from my full review you can find here: Blurb taken from my full review you can find here: Book Review | A Constellation of Roses by Miranda Asebedo
Bury What We Cannot Take by Kirstin Chen
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
This was a really was an interesting and eye opening book. It was a good read and I appreciate the author writing a story like this. Sadly, towards the end of the book I started to like it less and less.
The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
The premise was interesting, the setting was wonderful, the story was average for me. There were parts I really enjoyed and parts that were just blah. It was a interesting read like I said, it really makes you think about what some people will do when they really want something so badly.
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I lost interest pretty quickly in this one. I have been reading it on and off since September and it is a shame since I was looking forward to this book for a long while. I even picked it up fill price at the bookstore. It was just dragged out and I feel like a lot of what happened, happened for the sake of something happening. I don’t know, it is hard to put into words.
The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This was a lovely book, I really loved the folklore that is throughout the story. The writing is beautiful and imaginative. I plan on getting the next book in this series from the library.
I am currently reading 4 books right now and I really want to finish at least three of them before the end of the month. I am hoping the time off I have coming up will help.
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling, 49%
Bringing Down the Duke by Evie Dunmore, 43%
Assassin’s Apprentice by Robin Hobb, 4%
The Fiery Cross by Diana Gabaldon, 3%
Bookish Luna 