Book Review #526 - Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin

Welcome to Elsewhere. It is warm, with a breeze, and the beaches are marvelous. It's quiet and peaceful. You can't get sick or any older. Curious to see new paintings by Picasso? Swing by one of Elsewhere's museums. Need to talk to someone about your problems? Stop by Marilyn Monroe's psychiatric practice.

Elsewhere is where fifteen-year-old Liz Hall ends up, after she has died. It is a place so like Earth, yet completely different. Here Liz will age backward from the day of her death until she becomes a baby again and returns to Earth. But Liz wants to turn sixteen, not fourteen again. She wants to get her driver's license. She wants to graduate from high school and go to college. And now that she's dead, Liz is being forced to live a life she doesn't want with a grandmother she has only just met. And it is not going well. How can Liz let go of the only life she has ever known and embrace a new one? Is it possible that a life lived in reverse is no different from a life lived forward?

This moving, often funny book about grief, death, and loss will stay with the reader long after the last page is turned.

My Rating: 4/5

This is the most unique and original book I have read in a really long time. 

Death and the afterlife is a very grey area which made it a very interesting subject. 

The ability to talk to dogs was something that I enjoyed as I am very much a dog person. 

I feel like the magnitude not only of the plot but also the setting interfered with the character development as even though I didn't hate any of the characters, I didn't really care for them that much either. 

The whole love aspect didn't blend in well with the overall feel of the book and when introduced, it took the story a completely different direction from where I wanted and expected it to go. 

I really loved the whole idea of this kind of afterlife and probably would happily read a book just about the mechanisms surrounding it.  

Book Review #525 - The Penultimate Peril (A Series of Unfortunate Events #12) by Lemony Snicket

Dear Reader,

If this is the first book you found while searching for a book to read next, then the first thing you should know is that this next-to-last book is what you should put down first. Sadly, this book presents the next-to-last chronicle of the lives of the Baudelaire orphans, and it is next-to-first in its supply of misery, despair, and unpleasantness.

Probably the next-to-last thing you would like to read about are a harpoon gun, a rooftop sunbathing alon, two mysterious initials, three unidentified triplets, a notorious villain, and an unsavory curry.

Next-to-last things are the first thing to be avoided, and so allow me to recommend that you put this next-to-last book down first, and find something else to read next at last, such a s the next-to-last book in another chronicle, or a chronicle containing other next-to-last things, so that this next-to-last book does not become the last book you will read.

With all due respect,

Lemony Snicket

My Rating: 3/5

This is the second last book in this series and so things are finally starting to wrap up. A lot of the characters (especially the villains) from the previous 11 books made an appearance which was really interesting and humerous. 

I liked how there were some sentences written in a mirrored type format as for a children's book it is important to be fresh and unique. 

The setting of the hotel was interesting and it had a very Hogwarts feel to it at times. 

Book Review #524 - The Last Echo (The Body Finder #3) by Kimberly Derting

In the end, all that’s left is an echo.

Before, Violet's morbid ability to sense the dead led her to uncover dark murders and long-buried secrets in her small town. Now that she's working with a special investigative team, Violet hopes she can help even more people - whether by saving a life or catching a killer.

Although she's relieved to finally be honest about what she can do, her instant connection with her mysterious partner, Rafe, is both confusing and unsettling, and their unique bond creates tension with her boyfriend, Jay. When she discovers the body of a college student murdered by "the collector," Violet refuses to give up on the case. With her own relationship on the line, Violet doesn't realize that the serial killer is looking to add to his collection and that she may have caught his eye. Will the life Violet has to save be her own?

My Rating: 3.5/5

This book is the sequel to The Body Finder and Desires of the Dead. 

I liked this book significantly less than the first two. It just felt like an entirely different book altogether. 

In the first two books, Violet's ability was used by chance and was the sole focus of both books. In this book however, Violet actively uses her ability and the focus is more on the special unit within the police force which Violet is the newest member of. 

The special unit that Violet joins reminded me of The Darkest Powers trilogy by Kelley Armstrong. 

I liked that new characters such as Rafe and the others Violet works with had more development but I didn't like how others such as Jay and Chelsea were almost non-existent. 

The chapters from the collector's perspective were my favourite part of the book as I found it really chilling. 

The ending was suspenseful and I wasn't able to put the book down during that portion. 

I am looking forward to reading the last book now given the consequences of the way this book ended, however, I did not like how this book eluded to the possibility of a love triangle.