Let’s Review; Black-eyed Suzie

Well well well, I felt adventurous and knocked out another book today. So let’s talk about “Black-eyed Suzie” by Susan Shaw.

This book is about a twelve year old girl named Suzie who is stuck in a psychological box. The jacket describes that Suzie cannot eat, sleep, speak or walk anymore while in her box, though she doesn’t seem to realize how dangerous this is. Her Mother insists that she’s just “going through a phase” while her Father is rarely ever home. It’s only one day when her Uncle stops by that she’s taken to see someone. This is how she ends up in St. Dorothy’s mental hospital. There she befriends her therapist Stella and a boy named Joshua who’s happy despite his own on-going tragedy. Slowly she must try and piece together bits and pieces of broken memories that will change Suzie’s life forever.

Let me just start the actual review of this by stating one thing: This book genuinely gets sad on page 2. You open the book, read the little first page where Suzie describes her box and then you turn the page and BAM. Sad. Now from the very beginning of this book it’s quite obvious as to what the psychological damage was caused by, well who at least. The book remains pretty sad as you start to piece things together but it does start to get happier and the ending is a very happy one as well.

Despite it being a small book it was really good and I’d definitely recommend it if you want something short and eventually cute.

I definitely like how Suzy’s emotions are displayed through the book and while my own emotions are clearly not so bad, they’re still similar in a small way. I also enjoyed the character development of the little devil Karen, trust me, it’s good. I also really liked the peacock feathers thing (which is not too spoilery so I think its okay to mention them c; )

The only thing negative I have to say about this book is that there are some times where the wording gets a bit confusing? And sometimes you can’t quite figure out who exactly is speaking. And of course I sort of wish the book was a little bit longer but its actually the perfect size for the story so that’s just a personal preference.

Overall, the book has earned a 4/5 stars.

Let’s Review; Cinder

I literally just finished this book less than an hour ago and I’m in love so lets review “Cinder” by Marissa Meyers.

The story swaps perspectives between Cinder (our futuristic Cyborg Cinderella) and Prince Kai (who I personally picture with a super dreamy voice– yum) as they deal with the plague of Letumosis as well as foreign affairs.

I really liked this writer’s style of writing and it was a well constructed story. Never once did I ever feel like I had to force myself to keep reading, in fact had it not been for other responsibilities I would have finished this book in one day despite its near 400 pages. Now this book is the first book chosen for the bookclub that myself and my cousin have started and I think it was a superb choice, though my cousins already on book three of the series. Thanks Brandi.

The story opens with Cinder in her mechanics booth while she waits for a very important item from her family’s android Iko. It then follows her point of view as it shows you her home life as well as introducing the events that are happening in New Beijing as well as pushing you full force into the drama of the plague.

There’s not too much I can say without giving any spoilers but I am definitely loving this book and I would be more than happy to reread it again one day.

My favorite aspects of this retelling would have to do with the people of Luna. I also find it exceptionally settling that Cinder’s much more mundane than the classic Cinderella. It being set in a futuristic setting was definitely a very good touch and obviously I loved the cyborg aspect, I mean come on, who doesn’t love a good cyborg.

Things I didn’t like about the book include small things like Cinder’s lie detecting technology, I mean it kind of takes away the mystery (though it is really necessary for something that occurs later on in the book). And the only other thing I can really think of may be that there were a few instances where a trigger warning might have been nice? I don’t want to spoil anything so that’s all I’m gonna say about that.

My cousin believed the end to be a cliffhanger though I didn’t really see it that way personally as I feel a cliffhanger is something like (and this is totally just an example and doesn’t happen in the book lol) “She glanced over her shoulder at the deep cavern behind her, it had to be at least a thirty foot fall. With one final breath, she allowed herself to fall backwards, just as Grayson ran towards her.” Again, just an example. But I definitely feel something like that would be a cliffhanger, and I really feel Cinder didn’t end quite like that. I feel like it ends in a way where you know whats gonna happen within the first few chapters of the next book so I’m probably gonna try and pick it up next month instead of worrying about picking it up as soon as possible. But then again, I could be wrong 😉

Overall I would HIGHLY recommend this book and I rate it a solid 5/5 stars.