Book Review: Manhattan Beach

Manhattan Beach 

by Jennifer Egan
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

A slow, lagging, literary read. I had to take breaks to read other books during this time to get to the end. The first 60% or so was fascinating and I loved our leading lady; but the latter half was mostly about her father on merchant ships during the war (snore). It quickly lost my interest and it became a slog to get to the end. Not near as good as A Visit from the Goon Squad. Infinitely too long and boring at times, and lacking real excitement throughout.
I have been putting off writing a full review for Manhattan Beach as I feel so meh about it. The longer I want the harder it gets to even remember what the book was about; never mind what I liked and disliked about it. So I'm going to say this: go read Jennifer Egan's other book. Pass this one by and save yourself some bored page flipping and grief.
I'm down grading my star rating to 2 stars as there clearly wasn't too much to take away from Manhattan Beach in the end.

Please note: I received an eARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. This is an honest and unbiased review.

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Book Review: Hollow Dolls

Hollow Dolls

by MarcyKate Connolly
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

DNF at 15%
Well I'm super disappointed. I didn't realize this book wasn't it's own series. One of the reasons is that the blurb promoting it says:
" brand new series starter "... liars!

Instead this is a direct(?) continuation of a previous duology. It appears to star some of the same characters or at least comes on the back of the events in the Shadow Weaver duology immediately. I am not a fan of reading series out of order; and given that there is sooo much back story here to explain in order to really know what is happening from the get go; I've decided that I'm not going to go any further.

It really annoys me when trilogies are done this way. It's much better to break things up like Mortal Instruments did. As long as we were with our same crew of teens it was books #1-6. When the Clockwork series came along, in a different time span and with different characters, it had it's own numbering of 1-3 AND it was toted as a prequel trilogy. This is respectful of the reader and makes life much easier for those of us (whom I think are the majority) that want to read series in order. 

Now I know publishers aren't generally a fan of the long series as it requires people to get in at the beginning; and maybe people are overwhelmed by starting a series with 3+ books in it. Hence the desire to stay with duologies and trilogies. This however is not me. My favourite genre is fantasy and so to me a series with many books in it is good, because I won't run out of content, and hopefully it's close to being complete (as nothing in publishing annoys me more than series that never get finished. Yes GRRM, it's literally all your fault).

If this premise intrigues you and you want to dive into MarcyKate Connolly's intriguing sound world, pick-up the first book of the first trilogy called Shadow Weaver. I've put the first book on my giant TBR list, but this experience means it's unlikely to get to the top anytime soon. Sad because the overall premise is super interesting.

Please note: I received an eARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. This is an honest and unbiased review.

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Book Review: Look for Ladybug in Ocean City

Look for Ladybug in Ocean City

by Katherina Manolessou
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Who doesn't love search and find books?
Even today I still love to look through a well illustrated seek and find book. Of course it's always more fun with a kid by my side these days. These pages are wonderfully colourful with whimsical illustrations. There is a real story here (which is unusual for a search and find book) that really allows this book to be used again, even after the child has found everything. Never mind were you to try and name all the aquatic animals drawn on each page. I know I'd be hard pressed to; but they do all look like they are based off real fish or aquatic mammals (there are otters that show up a couple times I love).
On each page there are little phrases or words in the illustrations, for example: way up, way down, eye tests, chill out and more. This is a great way to have a little one practice reading a bit; without them needing to read the entire story blurb on the page and getting overwhelmed.
We also visit many fun, and a couple not so fun but needed, locations along the way including the dentist, theater, a gorgeous museum (I want the two-sided head sea serpent on display!), and, my personal favourite, a garden maze!
There is a list of items to find at the beginning of the book (including ladybug of course) and then throughout the story blurbs there are phrases in all-caps that indicate they are to be found. For example: crab on a swing, portrait of a fish with a pearl earring, shrimp looking in the mirror, starfish with seven arms, etc. These are fun in that they aren't just an object for a child to find but in fact are often 'actions' inside the still illustration. So not only do you need to know the aquatic animal doing the item (ie: fish, octopus, crab, etc.) you have to know where something is or what something is. So to find 'penguin with a basket of ice pops' you need to know what a penguin looks like, what a bucket is, and probably what ice pops are. And yes there are tricks! On the page to find the penguin I saw at least four other penguins doing things like: eating ice cream, drinking coffee, walking, etc. So it's not as easy as just find the animal.
Don't worry parents for those who aren't so great at these, or have impatient children, there is a key at the back. Now if you're child is anything like my 8-year-old niece then you'll get in big trouble (like I did) for 'cheating' and looking at the answers. LOL

Overall I really liked this book. I love that it's a real story of 'detectives' looking for ladybug and it has an adorable twist at the end of the story. I also love finding things! So it's a double whammy and well worth the cost of getting this one in a nice hardcover that will last. Some of my favourite books from when I was a child are the search and find ones that helped me learn to read. It's too bad this one wasn't published many (okay yes a lot of) years earlier.

Please note: I received an eARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. This is an honest and unbiased review.

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