A Game of Thrones Challenge

Hello, my darlings! Long time no see, right? Well, October was a chaotic month in all aspects of my life: my work is wreak havocking my brain, my pc screen sat broken for almost three full weeks before I got it back, I was crazy enough to accept a Game of Thrones challenge (more of that in a moment, haha!), I got sick for a whole week and almost had to be interned at the hospital thanks to a never-ending diarrhea… Rollercoaster doesn’t even start to describing my life this year. I’m so ready for 2017 – It has to be better than 2016.

Anyway, I’m here today to share with you the results of my Game of Thrones Challenge!

Game of Thrones Challenge: the results!

On my quick update bellow, I briefly mentioned accepting a challenge from a friend: I would have to read all five books of A Song of Ice and Fire in 30 consecutive days. Now I’ll tell the whole story and a bit of how this craziness went, haha!

First of all: I won the challenge. I started A Game of Thrones on September 27^th and finished A Dance With Dragons at 10:37PM of October 27^th. Now that the suspense is gone, I begin my tale, haha!

Despite watching several loose episodes of the TV show, I had never shown a true interest in reading the book series. The books are so big and heavy and I’m not really a fan of epics. My cup of tea leans more towards fantasy, YA and New Adult overall. However, my offline bff Jenny (who is already tired of reading her name on my blog, btw) was pinning hard for me to read the books and she knows me well enough: we would be 90 years old in a home, playing bingo all day, and I would still have excuses to dodge reading Game of Thrones. So, she played dirty: she challenged me and bet on it.

She knows I get intimidated by physically big books, so she said not even I could read the five books in the A Song of Ice and Fire series in a month in English (we are both Brazilian girls, so our native language isn’t English, which naturally poses a harder challenge than reading it on Brazilian Portuguese). She also said she would buy me two books if I did it. However, Jenny knows me so well she knew I would also need a threat in case I lost. She loves movies overall, so she stated that, If I couldn’t read the books on time, I would have to shut up and watch a whole movie series of her choice the next time we met.

But Annelise, why is it so bad to watch movies? Movies are nice and cool! Nope, not for me. I’m really a pain in the ass with new movies (new movies = movies that I have never watched, not necessarily “new” movies. I have resistance with old movies too, no prejudices here). I can’t explain it, I just don’t feel like watching 95% of what hits the theaters. The last move I watched on the theater was Finding Dory and, before that, I’m pretty sure it was Maleficent or the last movie of the Hobbit series (sorry, I have a terrible time related memory, haha!).

So, now that you know how bizarre particular I am regarding movies, you may start to understand my dread. I HAD to win, there wasn’t an option for me – the books were just a nice bonus, haha! So, I’ve got myself the 5 ebooks and started my journey though George R. R. Martin’s world.

Here are my stats:

A Game of Thrones: read from Sept. 27^th to Oct. 04^th

Overall impressions (a full review of the series will be written eventually, haha!): As I had watched several episodes on the first, third, fifth and, later on into the challenge, on the sixth seasons, the first book was just a deeper version of what I already knew. The first thing I did was to harden myself to not like anyone – I did tried to be indifferent to all characters, as “they all die” at some point, haha! As this didn’t work, I changed a bit my tactics to only like people I was sure it would appear on the sixth season – it worked pretty well most of the story, haha!

The reading pace was okay, as there was so much info everywhere and I was adjusting to George’s writing, but I knew I would have to do better than that to win. This is my third favorite book in the whole series so far, haha!

A Clash of Kings: read from Oct. 04^th to 10^th

Overall impressions: I did pick up my pace in the second book and George helped a lot, as there were so many Tyrion chapters ❤ (Tyrion, Daenerys, Jammie Lannister, Jon Snow and Brienne are my favorite characters in the series, in case you are wondering. I also quite liked Robb Stark, but oh well.) Also, I finally started to like Daenerys on this book, so it was fun.

me after entering Game of Thrones community

 

Oh, and judge me all you want, I was in love with Jamie Lanniester since the first moment he appeared on the first book, haha! Oh, and I need to make a comment about this book in particular: I was still a bit naïve about George’s ways and started it before I went to bed. “I’ll just read the prologue”, I said. Well, the damn thing had 50 pages. I was so mad at the time I took to overcome it that I read the book until chapter 3 before actually sleeping, haha! I was also really happy that a narrator from the previous book was dead, so it meant less people telling the story and things would go faster, right? WRONG. George exchange an okay narrator for two people I didn’t think I knew at the time. It was… frustrating.

A Storm of Swords: read from Oct. 10^th to 17^th

Overall impressions: I entered in an alpha state to see Jamie winning his own spot as a narrator in this book – also, the battles were really cool.

And the thing which happens to Tyrion was jaw dropping as well – sorry, I know many of you already know all the story, but I’m trying to not give away many spoilers, haha! The only thing that truly got me about this book was the amount of songs in it! I think George likes musicals, haha! I did a similar reading time in this volume, comparing to the previous one (6 days x 7 days), so I felt confident I was going at a pretty good pace despite the crazy schedule.

To be honest, I’ve read 474 pages of this volume on a single Saturday evening – my reading pace is weird, just like the rest of my personality, haha!

A Feast for Crows: read from Oct. 18^th to 24^th

Overall impressions: Despite keeping up with the amount of time I took on the previous volumes, it felts like AGES before I finished this one. I HATED this volume with a force – you see, there are cool moments, but the narrators are a pain in the ass and none of the people I wanted to see were in this book – interpret this as you will.

Each time I clicked on my e-reader to go to the next page, I kept thinking: one less page to go, we are almost there! This was sad in many levels. Also, I almost had a heart attack on a specific chapter involving one of my favorite characters and it was the TV show fault. As you guys may know/have guessed, there are some plot differences from book to TV show and one of those differences made me crawl out of my skin in fear that one of my fave characters could be actually dead on the book while this person waltzed along the show, haha!

I’m happy to inform it was only a false alarm, but omg. I suffered.

A Dance of Dragons: read from Oct. 24 to Oct. 27^th

Overall impressions: yes, my darling. You read it right. It took me only two days and a bit (I started the book in the night of the 24^th) to read the last published book in the series. It was that good.

Working was a punishment because it was 7h30min of my day without Game of Thrones in my life. All the doubts I had of not being able to fulfill the challenge during the fourth book vanished and I was left utterly heart-broken as I reached the family trees in the end of my ebook. How was I going to survive without Game of Thrones in my routine? Who would I be after reading this series? I suffered a slight book hangover through the last days of October, haha!

After such long and never-ending volumes full of stuff really cool and stuff I (reader) totally didn’t need to know, I came down to the conclusion any book with less than 1000 pages is a small book. The first sign came with my re-reading of the Never Veil series, in which each book has 250 to 300 pages more or less. If I had properly sat and read them, I would have finished in an hour or so each. As I’m lazy and still a little hangover about Game of Thrones and now I have a decent computer again to play and watch Netflix on a bigger screen, I put my hands on the books only a few times and already felt the pages ending too fast, haha! I’m ruined for life.

This is all your fault, George.

 

That’s it! Now you know a little of what has been going on with me, how my challenge went and I can’t wait to hear the opinions of GOT lovers! Let’s discuss this incredible series, please? Thank you.

Until another time, love you all!

The Tutor, from Bonnie Dee

Hello, everyone! Some days ago, I received a book called The Tutor, from Bonnie Dee, to review. It’s her newest release and I got pretty excited to read it, as I’m a big fan of Bonnie. This work was a standalone solo from Bonnie – she and Summer Devon write many books together, but they also publish alone 🙂 Thanks again, Bonnie Dee!

From my Instagram account 🙂

Let’s head to the story: Graham Cowrie is a poor guy from London that is desperate for a scenario change as the winter approaches and his house is not even remotely close of being prepared to endure extreme weathers. After applying for a position at Yorkshire, as a tutor for two 9-year-old twin boys and making his résumé way prettier than it actually was, Graham reads to the country, hoping only for a roof over his head and food inside his belly.

However, as soon as he lay eyes on Allinson Hall, his future winter home, he’s mortified. The house looked like a depressing asylum and has an awful aura about it. The house staff is also intimidating and far from welcome. Graham soon learns that his employer, Sir Richard Allison, lost his wife about a year ago and that the loss was hard for the children, as the circumstances of Lavinia Allinson death were pretty obscure.

Whitney and Clive Allison, Graham’s charges, prove to be elusive and smart boys, but Graham knew how to deal with children despite his résumé lies and soon wins, at least, their respect. Soon, he learns that the twins are different as day and night, despite being completely devoted to each other. Whitney is easy going and talkative, open to his tutor, while Clive completely muted after their mother’s death, being shy and suspicious all the time. Graham also learns that Sir Richard Allison, their father, is a smoking hot man and a burning desire grows between the two men.

As Graham fights to earn Whit and Clive’s trust and to attract Richard’s attention to physical matters – all the while maintaining his own part in place -, weird accidents start to happen and Graham discovers that not believing something doesn’t mean that it is not there.

“Play the part. Become the tutor.”

Now, let’s go to the analysis! Just wanted to remind that this is my opinion of the book and my impressions while reading it 🙂

This book left me so hangover. It’s a fast read: the book has 184 pages and you can read it on a sitting (it took me two days to finish it because I’m already back to college classes and this is my last semester, so I have to write my dissertation and all, haha!). But, when I finished it, I wasn’t ready for it to be over. Every element of the story was so good… I do have some critics, but, overall, the book is 5 starts worth!

The story narrator is Graham himself and he is a very fun and optimistic character. He’s that kind of person that always seems to notice everything around him and can tell other people’s sentiments just by looking at them. He truly has an inside light that can melt any heart – ask Sir Richard to see if I’m lying 😉

It’s not uncommon for me to have issues with narrator-characters; they usually annoy me with their actions and I get frustrated. This didn’t happen with The Tutor. Graham had me with him since the first sentence. What I really liked about him is that he is no martyr or self-centered: he has his moments just like you and me. Sometimes, he gets cocky and thinks that he’s awesome, other times he loafs himself and his lies. He can be honest even when he lies – how one does that?! He also is very describing, I dreamed with Allinson Hall the other night thanks to him… And it was creepy as hell, haha!

That leads us to the describing part. All the scenarios and characters are vivid in the readers mind. Dee mixes Graham’s thoughts with the book events in such a perfect harmony that it’s easy to feel like you are reading, that it’s not real and happening in front of you. One of the things that I liked more in this section was when Graham describes Richard’s first real and happy smile. My eyes got moist in that scene ❤

In characters matters, overall, I liked how Dee constructed one type of person for each personality and social role without falling into stereotypes. The twins were adorable, each in one kind of way, Richard was a prince of his own, Tom was a sweeting, the staff was cold, resentful and impatient (what was totally understandable, as they worked in a house with death reminders in every corner and wall). I just got a little disappointed with Richard, thanks to his behavior towards his children even after some key events in the book that should have put him into action to connect with his boys. And that’s why he won’t be featured on my vast bookish boyfriends list (but Graham is, haha! And no, it does not matter that they are both gay characters and I’m a girl, lol). I mean, he has a good heart, good actions, but he can’t make a move into two nine year olds? Come on!

The plot wasn’t overly complicated and was very obvious, but I’m not the kind of person who gets bothered by that. I don’t mind knowing where the story is going and how it is going to end; I like to see the details. I want to know how things happen. I get annoyed when I can even predict how events will turn in a book, you know? Not the case. I already read some books by Dee in the past to know what to wait of the plot, but not even one scene came out as I imagined. It was always better. But I guess that’s mostly Graham’s fault, as he was a very surprising character and his actions were also never obvious.

One thing that disappointed me in the book were the sex scenes – or the lack of them. As I said, I already read some previous works from Dee (all of them in her partnership with Summer Devon) and I was expecting more. The scenes from the book are good, but they are so few and there were many bedroom subjects to cover and justify the increase of such passages in the plot. Graham and Richard’s first time is very nice, but it’s all the actual sex we get. Everything else is just foreplay or Graham’s fantasies. The funny thing is that a solo work from Summer Devon disappointed me earlier this year for the very same reason: the sex scenes. I know their potential, so I guess Dee and Devon are soul writing mates, haha! They complete each other to make better scenes 😀

The supernatural element of the book, the very heart of the book problem, was a bit bipolar as well. In the beginning and in the middle, it was very good. Made me shiver and look twice at every shadow that I spotted. But, in the end, the problem was solved in a silly way. The answer itself was beautiful and it’s message is awesome, but I don’t know, I felt like it could have been harder. The ghost marketing didn’t matched his product, for say, haha!

Oh, bonus point, haha! I’m that kind of reader that collects quotes. I have a notebook full of them from pretty much all the parts of my life: movies, tv shows, celebrities, books, my friends, my family, my own… It’s a nice quote? I probably will write it down there. And this book had some amazing ones! This is very subjective, I know, but I’ll leave the best ones among the ones that I took note here (I’m sorry, I forgot to mark the pages’ numbers…):

“He would believe my lies only if I believed them myself.”

“What does every boy know and every man forget? That having fun is the prime purpose of life.”

“It was my nature to try to fix things and offer comfort where I could.”

“I was determinate to out-kiss a man I’d ever met (…)”

That’s it, guys! Thanks for reading and thanks again to Bonnie Dee, for sending me this! I loved The Tutor and it was one of my best reads of the year ❤

And I want to also share some news from Bonnie Dee and Summer Devon’s partnerships! They entered the Kindle Scout program with the book The Merchant and the Clergyman (you can read the blurb and chapter one on the page of the program, here).

The cover is beautiful ❤

That means that US residents with an Amazon account can vote on the book for it to be published by Amazon! I sadly couldn’t vote for them, as I live in Brazil, but I’m determinate to spread the world and get this amazing authors published everywhere they see fit. If you could spare a moment, don’t forget to vote! You’ll win a copy of their book if it gets chosen for publishing!

And their last news is that their new book together, The Shepherd and the Solicitor, will be out in September!

And here it is!

Meaning, next freaking month!! *–* Don’t forget to check this book out too!