Review #33 – Shouting at the Rain

I will have to say that at least the weather is doing better. It is still muggy here in California, but I am not dying of heat like I was the past two days. Yesterday was better than Saturday, I at least got to clean my room for a bit. Now off to the review. 

Shouting at the Rain, by Lynda Mullay Hunt, is a coming of age story about Delsie dealing with all the changes in her life during summer vacation. Through out all these changes she meets a new friend Ronan and together they learn how to deal with the ups and downs of life. 

I enjoyed this book and gave it four out of five stars on Goodreads. If I was to be honest with my rating I probably would have given it 3.5 stars out of five. I do love Delsie and Ronan. They are characters that are realistic and someone who you want to support. I also enjoyed the setting. It was nice to leave California a bit and experience the East Coast fishing town. It seems like a really cute small community that I would like to go visit. The problems were realistic and relatable, and I felt that how the problems were resolved were done in a realistic way. 

However, there were a couple of issue that I have with the book. I have read this author before and loved her book. The book that I have read, is Fish in a Tree, and it is amazing. I have discovered that I am not the only person who had this problem. I just felt that the book fell flat. I love the characters and I loved them and felt that both them and their problems were realistic and relatable, however, I just did not feel that spark of connection that I had with Fish in a Tree. When I saw that this author, I was expecting that magical connection and love right away. It was a few days after I finished reading this book did I start to feel something and realizing that the connection that I was looking for was not going to happen, and that was a bit disappointing. The other issue that I have was the bullying that was happening throughout the book. Her other book did have bullying, but this took it a bit too far.  In the beginning it started off as normal bullying. Things that I wished that a parent was there to stop and reprimanded the children for doing. In the end, it went worse where the bully got their adults involved in helping them bully our main character to deny her things that she was promised. The issue kind of gotten resolved, but I still wanted the bully to be punished. Props for Delsie is being the better person and killing our bully with kindness. 

As for recommending this book, it is a bit complicated. On one hand I do not have a lot of faults for this book. Yes, there is the potential trigger warning for bullying and child abandonment, but the book is not bad. It is written well and I did enjoy the book, I just was not in love with this book as I hope that I would be. It is because of my disappointment that I am having a hard time recommending this book. I also feel that this book would have more of an impact on children in middle grades (ages 9 – 13). An adult can read it, and can enjoy it, but it will not be as magical. 

That is it. Until next time. 

Super Bookworm

Disney Book Tag

Found this fun book tag a while back. I wanted to do it then, but I somehow did not have the time. I do hope that you do enjoy this. It is a fun little tag with ten categories relating to Disney character/ themes. Happy reading!

1. The Little Mermaid – a character who is out of their element, a “fish out of water”

In some ways, I feel as though every character that we read will always be “a fish out of water.” How else are we suppose to have a plot or any growth for the character?

However, I have chosen The Amulet series by Kibuishi Kazo for this first category. To me, Emily and her family not only go out of their world, but they also out of their element with politics, magic, and epic battles to bring peace throughout all the worlds.

2. Cinderella – a character who goes through a major transformation

This category I had a hard time narrowing down. However, I have chosen two books to fit. The first one is Elise from This Song Will Save Your Life by Lella Sales and Melanie from The Girls With All the Gifts by M.R. Carey.

For me, Elise has grown a lot from the shy girl who would not confront her fears or people to a person sitting in the DJ booth controlling the situation and having the ability to read and confront people and her problems. On the other hand, Melanie was a mutant prodigy who never experience life outside her cell. The moment she left her cell she quickly learn how to survive and protect those that she loves.

3. Snow White – a book with an eclectic cast of characters

I feel like I am cheating. The book that I chose for this category is The Crown of Ptolemy by Rick Riordan. I enjoy seeing both Percy, Annabeth, Carter and Sadie, and it was fun to see the mix of both Greek and Egyptian Mythology.

4. Sleeping Beauty – a book that put you to sleep

The book that I have chosen for this category not only put me to sleep, but it also disappointed me. The book for the Sleeping Beauty category goes to The Diary of Darcy J. Rhone by Emily Griffen. I ended up giving the book two out of five stars on Goodreads and I found the main character shallow with a lack of growth.

5. The Lion King – a character who had something traumatic happen to them in childhood

The book that I have chosen for this category is After Math by Denise Swank. Our main character Scarlett Goodwin had a very traumatic past who is overcoming all obstacles to make her life better.

6. Beauty and the Beast – A beast of a book (a big book) that you were intimidated by, but found the story to be beautiful

Again, this is another category that I had a hard time. I actually have two books that I believe will fit in this category. Both of these books are not in here for their size, but they did intimidate me. I tend to stay away from books that make you cry. I don’t like to cry whether in public or in private because of a book. A book should be both fun and pleasurable and I never had associated crying with pleasure. Both of these books are a joy to read and I am glad that I have read them. These two books are The Fault in Our Stars by John Green and The Book Thief by Markus Zusak.

7. Aladdin – a character who gets their wish granted, for better or worse

For this category, I have chosen both Jade and Phoenix from the 80 AD series by Aiki Flinthart. Both characters get what they wished for when they are transported into a video game. Both do discover it is not all fun and games and surprisingly also get their other wishes granted as well when they saved the worlds.

8. Mulan – a character who pretends to be someone or something they are not

For this category, I have chosen Ally from Fish In A Tree by Lynda Hunt. In the beginning, Ally pretends to be the class clown and troublemaker to hide her secret from her family and teachers.

9. Toy Story – a book with characters you wish would come to life

Almost all of the characters from James A. Owen Imaginarium Geographica Series. Who would not want to meet a bunch of famous authors throughout history, along with their most famous characters?

10. Disney Descendants – your favorite villain or morally ambiguous character

The person I picked for this category is not a villain but is a bit morally ambiguous. The person that I picked is Kat from The Heist Society by Ally Carter. I would love to get to know Kat more and understand her thinking and skill sets.