Mary Shelley The Dover Reader by Mary ShelleyMy rating: 3 of 5 stars I was given this ARC by NetGalley in return for an honest review.I am glad I had the opportunity to read this collection of Mary Shelley’s works. They are by far the best introduction to her works I have come across and provide a greater range and breadth of Shelley’s skill as a writer.Obviously Frankenstein was the first work in this collection and simply a timeless classic.I was surprised by her short novel Mathilda, the melodrama and emotional nature of the protagonist had me wondering how much fun Shelley had writing it.I personally cannot appreciate the included…

Das Parfum: Die Geschichte eines Mörders by Patrick SüskindMy rating: 5 of 5 stars That was a very interesting read. I was lucky enough to find a copy in German at my local library and decided to read it during my train ride. While reading it the world around me just disappeared.The characters, main and secondary, are extremely realistically created and portrayed. The amount of insight we get into the psychology of each character is remarkable, especially since the story never got boring for even a page.The plot was intriguing, a little bit creepy and horrifyingly human in its strangest way.The writing in German was just what I remember German…

The Rose & the Dagger by Renee AhdiehMy rating: 3 of 5 stars The much anticipated sequel to The Wrath and the Dawn, which I could not wait to read after having raced through the first book. Sadly, I was disappointed with the entire story. The strength and reserve we saw in the protagonist in the first installment turned into plain emo behaviour, isolation from people trying to help her and a sense of inflated self-worth. Her counterpart and love interest came across as a mere shell of his former self and not with respect and within the context of the story, but because of a lack commitment to the…

Unspeakable by Caroline PignatMy rating: 1 of 5 stars I was excited to read a story half set in Canada and half in the UK and on top of that it was written by a Canadian author, what was not to like? How about the fact that it was one step short of completely plagiarizing the story of Titanic? Or the inclusion of every Victorian literary cliché ever to exist? Or its complete and utter predictability? Well, I was so disappointed that I got angry. Angry that I spent time reading this story; a complete knockoff from a very popular movie that came out in 1997, which by the way…

Starflight by Melissa LandersMy rating: 4 of 5 stars I have been dying to read this book since last September. After having read two out of the three books in the Starbound series, I began searching for other stories of the same genre to get my fix of galactic travel, adventure and romance. I was not disappointed with Starflight.I liked the main character tremendously, rough around the edges, fighting to survive and make a life for herself. Logical, but with heart and a knack for machines, she was a joy to get to know. The secondary characters added great depth to a story that takes the reader across the universe.The…