The Thousandth Floor by Katharine McGee

Hello everyone. It's me. The super productive blogger. Who's ten books behind on reviews.

BUT. Good news. I am going to start scheduling reviews this summer and hopefully year. From here on out, a new review will be posted every Monday and Thursday. I really do hope to be able to turn this blog into a real thing with real followers. And so hopefully a bit of structure will help me get there. 



The Thousandth Floor is not my type of book.

The character’s weren’t the most well thought out characters. The prose was quite nice at times, but never blew me out of the water. The plot itself was pretty much nonexistent, instead it was 400 pages of subplots and chaos spiraling out of control. (That being said, I was intrigued from page one. Because right from chapter one you know this book is going to end with someone falling off the building. But who??)

So why did I end up NOT hating it?

Well. Isn’t that quite the story. 


This book comes out August 30th, 2016

Stats:

Genre:  Futuristic 

Feelings: Not for me?

Cuteness: I shipped like...no one. That being said I really liked Watt. Lil bean.

Fast pacing: there is like...no plot arc. But it's a quick read. Despite being 400 pages

Series: .............yes. Which I didn't know going in.

Read if you like: Gossip Girl, Pretty Little Liars

Content: A lot of kissing. A lot of aggressive cuddling but none on-page. Drugs, partying, cursing, the works.

Trigger warning? Drug addiction, parents cheating, relationships cheating, suicide.

In summary... Set in a futuristic Manhattan, where the Tower looms a thousand floors tall, home to teens of all ways of living...and all full of secrets

Thoughts: Glass

Messages: .....this book is like cotton candy. Enjoyable, but not much to it.

Overall

Rating: 2.5/5

Note: This isn’t a conventional review. Objectively speaking, I wasn't a fan of this book. It had some great character conflicts, but besides that....I wasn't a fan. But in this review, instead of picking it apart, I want to talk about Bad Books...and how there's no such thing.



I honestly don’t remember how I started watching the show Gossip Girl, but I did. Instantly, I knew this was Everything I Normally Dislike About Television. Melodrama, nasty people doing nasty things, and just overall “what are you doing with your life”. Like I needed more drama in my life?
Emma and I started watching it around the same time and went through the same cycles. The initial repulsion…and then…the slow…slow…descent…into obsession. 

Yeah.

Let’s just say this show kind of hooks you and all of a sudden you’re three seasons in, munching popcorn, gasping in horror because oh MY goSh NO HE diD nOT!!!! Second guessing your life because what happened to actually watching all those thought provoking television shows you used to watch? Why are you spending so much time with this?

And then you realize because despite the drama and un-relateable circumstances…this story has done One Big Thing right. It made you care about characters, the worst kind of characters. 

This book is like that. 



“Let me know what you think.” I was told when given this ARC. 

Distinguished-Reader inside of me adjusted my hypothetical monocle. “But of course.” 

(That can be read in a British accent.)

Right off the bat I knew this book was going to be a futuristic Gossip Girl. “Let’s see how long I last,” I said, casting a knowing glance at all my “distinguished reader” books, all the classics on my desk. 

 I scoffed. Laughed. Rolled my eyes. Because of course the hugely fancy book blogger I am, I would only appreciate quality young adult fiction.

Because, from what it looked like, this book was not for me.

Anyway. So the next day I dove in. And the book reviewer inside of me inspected every sentence, grumbling when descriptions were cliche or characters irrational. 

But there I was, after getting home that night, staying up till the crack of dawn because OHMYGODWHAT does she KNOW that she’s actually HER HALF SISTER????  What if she finds out that he’s been SPYING on her BROTHER??

It was the type of book that every bit of the Distinguished Reader inside of me wanted to loathe. And yet somehow I ended up enjoying every second of reading this. 

Why?

Well. I call it the Gossip Girl Effect.


There are characters. Characters who overreact, characters who are spoiler or privileged, characters who do really dumb things. Characters who you should dislike, especially if you’re a character-first writer/reader. But for some weird reason you just want to know what happens to them.

In Gossip Girl, this is because the writers use a lot of sneaky methods of t r a g i c b a ck s t o r y (which is a dangerous method but somehow works). Blaire is not just a mean little jerk, she’s just trying to get some control over her life after being driven to bulimia years ago. Serena used to be an even worse person and she’s trying to turn her life around. 

We’re literally seeing these characters in their worst and their best. I didn’t relate to barely any of them in their weird situations they got themselves in.  And those idiots made me care. These character dynamics made me care. That awful show somehow snuck up on me.

And then there’s that epiphany where I realize that I may not be a drug addict or teen drinker, but I’m still a pretty awful person myself. I make loads of mistakes...so who am I to complain about a character making their own?


The Thousandth Floor is like that. These characters are n o t good people but neither are we. I think a lot of readers are really closed off to bad characters. 

From a writers standpoint I can roll my eyes and say “They really react too much and that was super unrealistic” but…there comes a point when I treat these characters as actual people doing things actual people do. They might not meet my standard…

But would I meet my standard if I was a character? 

So that’s why books like The Thousandth Floor are important. They’re there for enjoyment and you’ll probably forget them in about 10 years and most likely never actually give it as a solid recommendation. But they’re important reminders of characters who are realistically awful. 

And also, they’re reminders that it’s OKAY to read a book just because you enjoy it. It’s OKAY to tell Distinguished Reader/Blogger/Writer to shut up and just read a “bad” book. 

Because if you like it, if you maybe get the tiniest thing out of it…then is it really bad? 


I just got back from a writers conference I go to every year. The most important thing I got out of it, was the story told by one of the speakers about something he was told once about the book Twilight.
But basically, he was told by this man that Twilight was not a bad book, but “It just wasn’t written for me.”

And that stuck with me. Because it’s easy to go into Distinguished mode and say “No that’s a bad book.”  When really it wasn’t a You book. But it was a Them book. It was a book that touched that kid in the back of the room. A book that helped some girl through a tough time. A book that made that boy laugh, that girl feel like she could write a story one day. 


Basically there is no such thing as Bad Books. There IS such things as “Bad for you” books, books that weren’t written for you.

The Thousandth Floor is not for everyone. It’s not quite for me, despite the fact I enjoyed it. But, this is not a Bad book. Because I still cared. Not enough to rate it higher then three stars. But this book is going to find its Readers, its People. The People who DO care more. And if some Gossip Girl addict finds this and declares “THIS IS THE BOOK I HAVE BEEN LOOKING FOR…”


Then this is definitely not a bad book. 



Alright. To finish this, I want to return to something I used to do. I did this for Kill me Softly, and The Darkest Part of the Forest.

I am going to make a diagram for the relationships in this book. Be prepared. Also. Complete spoilers. So if you intend on reading this, go read it FIRST, then return. 

You're welcome

And so, overall, this book is a book of good twists and turns, writing and conflicts, but weak plot arc. But I do think a lot of people are going to really love this book. And that'll be cool to see.

The Steep and Thorny Way by Cat Winters

"I can't run off with your family." 

"Don't think of it as running off with my family." I lifted my eyelids far enough to see the concerned blue or her irises. "Think of it as running off to be with me in a land like the ones we created as children."

"There's no such place, Hanalee."

"We'll make the place ourselves."

I was a little more than excited to read this book. I loved Cat Winter’s In the Shadow of Blackbirds, and was instantly in love with the idea of 1920’s Oregon murder mystery inspired by HAMLET? Yes.

Sadly, it wasn’t quite as overwhelmingly beautiful as I wanted.

Cat really did put a lot of research into this. That's obvious simply by reading the authors note. I appreciate the topics she dealt with, but unfortunately, I simply didn't care for the actual story.

Stats:

Genre:  Historical fiction (Paranormal wannabe)

Feelings: Yep

Cuteness: FRIENDSHIP

Fast pacing: i'm so sorry to say this but this book was so boring.

Series: Nope

Read if you like: Murder. 1920's. Diverse characters.

Content: A lot of talk of sex, but always in the terms along the lines of "The taking of virtue" and a few vaguely rude comments a few boys make because Hanalee and John are found asleep in the woods together. Some disturbing topics regarding hangings and such. Also this book has a gay male character, so there are some scenes that imply a lot to deal with that, which may bother people who aren't comfortable with it.

Trigger warning? Loss of a parent. Violent racism. Violent homophobia.

In summary...Being a girl of color in a 1920's oregon small town is not easy. It's especially not easy when the boy accused of killing your father was just released from prison. But things are not always as they seem, and with the help from some sketchy ghosts...Hanalee very well might discover just that.

Thoughts: Swamp water, pine needles, rough ropes

Messages: Too much to sum up. This book never really takes like, an obvious huge stance regarding racism and homophobia, but it paints a strong picture of what it was like and makes it clear how awful it was. Which is a stance in and of itself.

Rating: 3/5 stars

Just this once, I’m going to combine the “Characters” and “Plot/Writing” part of this review, since the reason I didn’t like them go hand in hand.

-The characters+Plot/Writing-

The root problem as to why I didn’t care for this book is really because it felt half-baked. Don’t get me wrong. The writing was very lovely as to be expected with Cat Winters. But the plot felt void of life. The ghosts? They were tossed in there. In my own writing, I sadly have experienced how hard it is to write a ghost story where the ghosts don’t feel tossed in. My own novel needs to be rewritten because of this.

But these ghosts could have been nonexistent. They felt like they had been put there for plot only purposes, and that’s not how I want my ghosts.

The mystery should have been scary. But it wasn’t. All that being said, this book was scary for other reasons, that I’ll talk about in the “Messages and other” part of this post. This plot was just half-baked.

And the characters really didn’t jump out at me. Hanalee. She was…okay. I appreciated her realism. I appreciated a well shaped diverse character. But I just didn’t care. I should have, but I didn’t. And the other boy. John? I liked him, because he was also a nice diverse, interesting character. And their friendship was wonderfully platonic (For obvious reasons). But I really didn’t care about these characters enough to really care about the story and I don’t know why.

For me, characters are important. No matter how well put together a plot is, if I don’t care about the characters then I don’t care about the plot. I’ve never been one to be able to pick apart plots easily, unless I really think about it. And in this books case, the plot was lacking because the characters were lacking, but they both were lacking because they didn’t feel finished. These characters were g o o d, but they lacked that reader connection. 

The one thing I did love in this book was the setting. It felt vibrant. Real. I adore the 20’s, but I have never thought particularly about the small western town feel of it. So I loved getting that swampy, foresty feel.

-Messages and other-

As said earlier, this is a scary book. Not because ghosts, or murder. But because this book shows so clearly how scary it would actually be for a girl like Hanalee in 1920’s Oregon. It’s scary because even if this wasn’t a murder story, her life would constantly be in danger. Because stepping into a restaurant would put her at risk. And that actually happened.

It was an absolutely despicable time in the terms of racism. Often times jokes are made that the 20’s aren’t much different than now in the sense of homophobia and racism, and while cases like the ones in this book are around, they are never as saturated into the community as they are here. And so, it’s scary to read this book and wonder how people survived. How many homosexuals and colored people got lynched and killed simply because of those things.

For that, this book really is an important one. Any book that deals with these topics is important. Which is why in the end, I did like it. I simply didn’t care about anything except the things it had to say.

Overall, this wasn’t a terrible book. I do think a lot of people will love it, and a lot of people do love it. I simply wasn’t able to care enough to love it. 

A Study in Charlotte by Brittany Cavallaro

Maybe Charlotte Holmes was still learning how to pick apart a case; maybe I was still learning how to write. We were Sherlock Holmes and John Watson. I was okay with that, I thought. We had things they didn't, too. 

I have so many mixed feelings about this story. This book had a lot of hype, and I was lucky enough to get an ARC. In the usual Mariesa-fashion, it took a few months to actually get to reading it. 

And I....enjoyed it?

This book comes out on March 1st

Stats:

Genre:  Modern day Mystery

Feelings: Eh?

Cuteness: -cough- i'm trying not to but I ship it. Honestly I'd sib-ship too. I just love the dynamic between these two.

Fast pacing: While the pacing was nice, this wasn't a -stay-up-until-2am-book for me

Series: IT BETTER BE.

Read if you like: Gee, Sherlock Holmes, maybe?

Content: Highschooly situations. As in, partying, dating, smoking and such. Drug use. A character was raped in the past, and this is discussed now and then but never in graphic detail.

Trigger warning? Drug use. Rape.

In summary... Jamie Watson has won a scholarship to a Connecticut prep school! Except...the downside is this school is home to Charlotte Holmes, the famous detective great-great-great-granddaughter. And when someone gets murder and both of them are framed...things go downhill.

Thoughts: Heels clicking on stone walkways, glass beakers and rough tree branches

Messages: I mean, there's drug stuff but this book never really has any MESSAGE about it?

Rating: 3.5/5

So I adore Sherlock Holmes. Naturally, this resulted in intense fangirling upon receiving this ARC.

But it took me so much longer to get through it then I'd wanted.

-The Characters-

Charlotte. She was wonderful. I had rather hoped that this Charlotte Holmes character would be a bit different than the BBC Sherlock, which she really wasn't. So while that was a tad disappointing, she still remains my favorite character. She was realistic, and her times of showing that humanity were well placed. Often times I can get a bit tired of female characters who are Too Much and Too Strong, but Charlotte was brilliant and strong-minded, but she still showed her human side. Like...three times. If that makes sense. She was just a fun character, okay.

Jamie Watson. The human equivalent of a vaguely sullen teddy bear who just cares a lot. He plays rugby. Meh. But he tries very hard. Kinda messes up a lot. Literally follows Charlotte to the ends of the earth. And you can tell he really likes her. Like really likes her, but that's not how Charlotte works, so I appreciate that he didn't push it. He was perfectly happy being her best friend and I liked that.

The side characters were fun, if kind of stereotypical. The villain was a bit meh, I guess is my major complaint. I loved the main characters enough to read this book, but the mystery side was a bit lacking.

-Plot and Writing-

This is a mystery novel. And it did have it's Murdery and Mystery-y aspects. But unfortunately, I just didn't care? I found myself skimming all the mystery-parts, which probably isn't good, but the parts of them sleuthing weren't as engaging as I'd hoped.

The climax came with the big villain info-dump, and the showdown itself wasn't all that exciting. Other parts of the book were actually more intriguing then the actual showdown.

Brittany is a great storyteller. I really look forward to reading her other stories, and I am hoping she writes more about these characters. Jamie's voice felt very strong and realistic to him, but to be honest, after reading the epilogue which is written from Charlotte's POV, I wanted the book to be her POV. Of course, that wouldn't have worked out. But I can hope, can't I?

To be perfectly honest, I think that Epilogue is the reason I enjoyed this book. I liked it, but that epilogue put the perfect bow on this story, and after reading it, I set it down and thought "Yes. Yes, I like these two. I'll keep them."

-Messages and other-

There's not much to say about the themes and messages of this book. Probably because this book doesn't have much to say either. There was no stance on the drugs, or any of the things dealt with, really. Some of the more serious things dealt with did feel a bit like plot-devices.

That basically sums up my thoughts on the story. This is a Good Book. But this isn't the type of book with hidden gems, lovely metaphors and themes and messages to take from it. It's just that. A Good Story with some Good Characters. I'm not saying that every book has to have these things, but it does help to make something memorable. Luckily, this book is clever enough that I don't think I'll be forgetting it anytime soon.

And SO. I did really enjoy this book. I'll put it back on my shelf fondly, and look forward to the next release. There better be one. I hope that if there are more installments, that they will have a bit more meaning.

Overall, I do really recommend this book. It's funny, it's fun to read, and these characters are quite easy to love. Read it, love it, just don't expect to learn from it.

Shallow Graves by Kali Wallace

Their killer was there when I woke up. He was dead before I saw his face. I know what he did, but I don't know his name. 

It was an accident, the first time I killed. It was an instinct I didn't know I had. I had never made a choice.

The second time was on purpose.

So I go into the bookstore. 

I see this on the new release shelf.

I stare at it.

It stares at me.

I message Linnea to see if she's read it. She hasn't.

I debate for a while. Then, I finally just pick it up and find a corner of the store to read. 

It all went downhill from there. 

This is a very good monster book. At a glance, it is a mash up of a lot of different possible plots, all packed together. Was it a hit or miss? I'm thinking both. But I liked it.

Soooo.....

Stats:

Genre:  Paranormal. A sort of “monsterology” book

Feelings: A few here and there.

Cuteness: There was no romance! Some adorable friend-ships, though.

Fast pacing: More or less. It’s all over the place

Series: Not that I believe.

Read if you like: Monster type books. Think Jackaby meets Supernatural meets like…Warm Bodies. With elements of like....Dexter. And Minnow Bly. All smooshed together.

Content: A few mentions of sex, but none actually occurring. Some violence. Plenty of that good ole bloody factor.

Trigger warning? Loss of family. A few mentions of suicide.

(Note for more conservative people: Main character IS a bisexual character)

In summary... She’s pretty sure she’s supposed to be dead. After all, waking in a grave after being dead for a year is a pretty solid reason for thinking that. But now she simply can’t die, and some crazy cult is after her, and her only friend is a couple of ghouls and a nightmare.

Thoughts: Dirt. A lot of dirt. Dried blood under your nails.

Messages: Not a theme-heavy book, but some internal battles dealing with starting over, and revenge. 

Overall

Rating: 4/5

Spoiler Free Review

So. This book. While it was far from the atmospheric horror story I wanted and was expecting, putting that aside made me see that yes, I actually really did enjoy this book. Okay, it did have a pretty solid atmosphere, and there was some creepy stuff that went down. But. You have to understand, they compared this book to Holly Black and Nova on the back, so my expectations skyrocketed.

-The Characters-

Unfortunately, this character did not hold past the never-can-connect-to-main-character disease that I have. I definitely liked Breezy. She was funny, far from whiny, snarky, and realistic. She was a diverse character, the first bisexual that I’ve actually found in this genre so far. And I loved her backstory.

But. I just kind of didn’t care. But that’s my fault.

HOWEVER. The side characters.

The side characters.

Rain was so cool. I don’t have anything eloquent or insightful to say about her. She was just so cool. Her monster aspect was new and fascinating, and her interactions with everyone else amusing.

And Zeke. Hello yes I very much adored Zeke. He was the ghoul, the kind of very grumpy why-must-i-do-these-things kind of guy. Hated everyone. But did nice things because he begrudgingly didn’t want these people to get murdered. But then sulked some more. But not in the broody way. Just kind of the i-quit way. Also: he ate humans. So there’s that.

His brother was great too. Honestly both of them were so great. I wanted MORE of their relationship, because the snippets I saw of them were fantastic. I just really love brother relationships.

-Story, writing and plot-

This…was a cool story.

No, this book is not horror. It was advertised as such, but I don’t consider it that. I think this was a very well done book, by an author who I look forward to see more of. At first, I was a tad overwhelmed. I felt like Wallace had become very excited and thought LETS JUST PUT EVERY MONSTER EVER IN ONE WORLD.

But then, after I got passed the initial shock….I thought “Yes. Why not, though???” Because I love that type of monsterology book. All the monsters! All of them!

I just wished this was advertised as such.

And so, I think people should definitely read this. It’s funny, it’s entertaining, it’s a fun story.

What even was the plot of this book. I get it, Breezy wants to know why suddenly she’s a re-animated corpse. And why suddenly there’s like banshees and ghouls and monsters everywhere.

But then there’s that weird cult that’s got this twisted idea that they have to remove all darkness and kill monsters. Which is interesting. But it felt very underplayed. Both plots of the story were very interesting, but the pacing just felt…off.

Also: The ending wrapped up so fast. And so neatly. I’m pretty sure this is a standalone, and if so…color me a bit disappointed by the end. Not quite the Huge Conflict Climax I was waiting for.

-Other-

I really like characters. I love characters that have a distinct shape even when you know them for a few pages. I love when you can tell that the author developed each and every character. I like characters not think poorly of their families every page. I love families. I love monsters.

So, this book was a compilation of a lot of things I love. Even as it flopped in a few areas, this book was right for me. The negative reviews consist of people saying it is “too much” and while I can see where people are coming from…it wasn’t too much for me.

And so, overall, solid book. If you’re a fan of monsters GALORE…then this book is right for you.