Review: Carry On by Rainbow Rowell

Stand Alone 

Format: Hardcover

Pages:522

Rating: 2 Stars

How I Got It: Christmas Gift

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy

Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin

Synopsis courtesy of Goodreads

Simon Snow is the worst chosen one who’s ever been chosen.

That’s what his roommate, Baz, says. And Baz might be evil and a vampire and a complete git, but he’s probably right.

Half the time, Simon can’t even make his wand work, and the other half, he sets something on fire. His mentor’s avoiding him, his girlfriend broke up with him, and there’s a magic-eating monster running around wearing Simon’s face. Baz would be having a field day with all this, if he were here—it’s their last year at the Watford School of Magicks, and Simon’s infuriating nemesis didn’t even bother to show up.

Carry On is a ghost story, a love story, a mystery and a melodrama. It has just as much kissing and talking as you’d expect from a Rainbow Rowell story—but far, far more monsters.

Review

Maybe I shouldn't write this review. But I feel I need to so I can move on.

I didn't hate this book-it was just incredibly disappointing. And I've enjoyed the other Rainbow Rowell books I've read.

This was agonizingly slow. And the characters weren't particularly interesting. It probably doesn't help that this is the conclusion to a "series" so there's a lot of backstory/world building missing.

I almost DNF'd this so many times. And it would probably have been a 1 star read (which I don't think I've ever done), but the last 50 pages got excited. So, I bumped it up for that. 

Thanks for reading!

Holly

Midnights by Rainbow Rowell

Anthology: My True Love Gave to Me

Format: Hardcover

Pages: 22

Rating: 5 Stars

How I Got It: Purchased

                This was a great start to this anthology. The story is told in a way that I was immediately sucked in.

                And even though it was only 22 pages I knew and felt connected to Mags and Noel. They’re both a little different, but in a cute way. Plus, they have a shorthand when talking to each other. I feel like this makes it easier to believe their relationship even with this short length.

                This story is another example of how skilled Ms. Rowell is. And while I’m satisfied by how this story ended I wouldn’t hate more time with these characters, because I liked them so much.

Thanks for reading!

Holly 

My True Love Gave to Me Edited by Stephanie Perkins

Format: Hardcover

Pages: 321

Rating: 3.5 Stars

How I Got It: Purchased

                It seems like everyone and their mom is reading this short story collection. I haven’t read a lot of holiday stories and was excited to give this a try.

                Since there are twelve stories by twelve different authors there is a nice blend of stories. It’s not all contemporary romance with Santa and Christmas trees. This means there’s at least one story for every YA reader, in my opinion.

                My favorite story is Rainbow Rowell’s. I actually feel bad that’s the first one because all the others had to live up to it. Other favorites were Matt de la Pena’s, Stephanie Perkins’, Gayle Forman’s, and Ally Carter’s.

                While reading I wrote short reviews of each story as I read them. I’ll be posting them over the next twelve days. Below are my ratings in case you just want to know that.

Midnights-5 Stars

The Lady and the Fox-2 Stars

Angels in the Snow-4 Stars

Polaris is Where You'll Find Me-3 Stars

It's a Yuletide Miracle Charlie Brown-4 Stars

Your Temporary Santa -3 Stars

Krampuslauf-3 Stars

What the hell have you done, Sophie Roth?-4 Stars

Beer Buckets and Baby Jesus-3 Stars

Welcome to Christams, CA-4 Stars

Star of Bethlehem-4 Stars

The Girl Who Woke the Dreamer-3 Stars

 

Thanks for reading!

Holly