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The Sunday Post is a chance to recap the past week, talk about next week, tell you what I’m reading, and share news. It’s hosted by The Caffeinated Book Reviewer, Readerbuzz, and Book Date.

The Sunday Post #287

On The Blog Last Week

• On Tuesday, I recommended some books to read in winter.

On The Blog This Week

• On Tuesday, I share the books on my Christmas wish list.

In My Reading Life

Last week's books were not super successful, friends. One was okay; the other I decided to abandon.

Let's start with the DNF. I gave up on She Who Became The Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan. I enjoyed the beginning. It's about a peasant girl in 1300s China who steals her brother's identity and tricks her way into becoming a monk. I liked the scenes that are set in the girl's village and at the monastery. As the book goes on, we start getting perspectives from other characters. That's where my problems began. I didn't find the other characters interesting. Many of them are soldiers who have very few ambitions beyond wars, promotions, and military stuff. Their plotlines didn't hold my attention. Actually, I think the writing style was my biggest struggle with this novel. The reader is kept at a distance from the characters, so we never know what's going on inside their heads. I couldn't get invested in their lives because they didn't feel real to me.

That being said, this book gets excellent reviews on Goodreads, so maybe you should ignore my opinion. Historical fantasy is not a genre I typically read.

My next book was better! Not perfect, but still good. It was The Grace Year by Kim Liggett. Look at that pretty-pink-blood-ribbon cover. It's a young adult horror dystopia about a society that believes teenage girls have dangerous magical powers. When the girls turn 16, they're sent to an island for a year to purge the magic from their systems. The island is not a happy place. It's basically a Lord Of The Flies situation. This is a fiercely feminist horror story. There's blood, guts, and plot twists. The teens have to work together to overcome their own prejudices and learn how to survive on the island. It's a fast-paced novel that kept me on the edge of my seat.

I wish the secondary characters had more development. There are a lot of characters. Aside from the main character, most of them are one-dimensional. Like many YA dystopias, the world building is pretty vague too. We don't learn much about the world outside the community where the story is set. I wondered if any teens chose to run away rather than go through their Grace Year. It's a brutal rite of passage. I wouldn't let my kid do it.

Is it true that this book is going to be made into a movie? I hope so! I think it would be an excellent movie. It has a lot of action and drama.

I'm finally reading Little Heaven by Nick Cutter. This novel has been sitting on my shelf for two years because most of my book friends hate it. So far, it's a properly scary horror story, and I don't hate it.

In The Rest Of My Life

Five things that made me happy recently (photo edition):

I'm Spreading Holiday Cheer

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Take care of yourselves and be kind to each other. See you around the blogosphere!