FF Book Club: Review #1

Today is something extra new on the blog, today I launch my Fuchsia Freezer Book Club! EEEk! A little exciting a little nerve racking. The point of this, is to share something with you that is another passion of mine, outside of the kitchen. I love to read… and try to read as much as I can at any given time. You can typically find my over-sized purse (that my kids run away from when I ask them to hold it for a moment) with a book in it, along with a note book for taking notes (either food inspiration or book notes), and of course my large agenda. For someone who writes A LOT on the internet I still like to keep my daily ‘happenings’, to do lists, calendars, etc all in my agenda. There is something about paper & a pen…

“The truth is what I make it. I could set this world on fire and call it rain.”
― Victoria Aveyard, Red Queen

Before I get into the review, I want to share a little more about myself with you. I am a mom of two little girls, and 3^rd little girl is on her way coming this August. Clint and I have spent the couple years building a house (well… he did most of the labour as I oogled over pretty pictures of furniture and décor on the internet, and made dinners and did the house keeping stuff). The one thing I did to keep myself sane, and to keep something just for me was I joined a book club. An ACTUAL book club. One a month I meet up with 4 of the most wonderful ladies, and we enjoy appetizers and talk about the book we chose… and then get into kids, and life, etc… we have been doing this for two and half years now and I expect this won’t stop anytime soon. We have gone through 3 newborns (soon to be 4), and countless books. I thank each of these women in my life as our love of reading is what brought us together, but each has taught me something new and different. Each month, one member selects the book of the month to read, and at the next meeting, we discuss.

My first choice for the Fuchsia Freezer Book Club is Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard. Goodreads describes this selection as:

“The poverty stricken Reds are commoners, living under the rule of the Silvers, elite warriors with god-like powers.

To Mare Barrow, a 17-year-old Red girl from The Stilts, it looks like nothing will ever change.

Mare finds herself working in the Silver Palace, at the centre of
those she hates the most. She quickly discovers that, despite her red blood, she possesses a deadly power of her own. One that threatens to destroy Silver control.

But power is a dangerous game. And in this world divided by blood, who will win?”

Since I am new to actually writing reviews etc, I thought I would pull some help from the online world. I found the perfect 10-question review from Lit Lovers and will use some of these to review my first choice: Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard. To find all 10 questions, head to the Lit Lovers site. It’s a great place if you want to start a book club of your own, just started one and are looking for ice breakers to get to know your new book friends, and more resources. I should let you know they did not sponsor me, or ask for promotion, I looked online, found them and enjoy the site. SO now it’s time… and here we go:

1. How did you experience the book? Were you engaged immediately, or did it take you a while to
“get into it”? How did you feel reading it—amused, sad, disturbed, confused, bored…?

My experience was overall a good one. I thought the book was well thought out and you could relate to the main character, Mare, easily.  I was engulfed in this book, and it took me only a few days to read from cover to cover. There was plenty of action, but not at the cost of poor writing and missing details.

2. Do the main characters change by the end of the book? Do they grow or mature? Do they learn something about themselves and how the world works?

Two of the main characters in this novel are young, both in age and in mind-set. Although they are both coming from two very different worlds, it’s interesting to see each one grow a little wiser in their own way, and be able to see the same situation from two different perspectives. Since this is book one in a trilogy, I’m looking forward to see how each will grow independently. By the end of this novel, you can see them getting a little smarter in the way they perceive the situations that arise and how they react to them. There were defiantly a few surprises even I didn’t see coming. The Third, the young Prince, however seems to be a little wiser then his two counterparts. 

3. Is the plot engaging—does the story interest you? Is this a plot-driven book: a fast-paced page-turner? Or does the story unfold slowly with a focus on character development? Were you surprised by the plot’s complications? Or did you find it predictable, even formulaic?

I found this was a fast-paced novel. There was a back and forth (from history to present) so you could keep up and understand why the events were taking place the way they did. I also found the author didn’t waste time with details that weren’t important to the story, or use flowery words to bulk up the novel. I read this book from cover to cover in about 4 days, and found it extremely hard to put down. Red Queen was very engaging, and the flow of the story was easy to follow. I can’t wait for the trilogy to come out completely. 

The one pitfall, I believe the next book doesn’t come out until 2016! That’s a LONG time away for me! 

Anyways, I want to thank you for understanding the past two weeks here. It’s been a house full of flus and me trying to figure out what’s been wrong. Turns out I have a severely pinched nerve on the right hand side of my ribcage. So I am working on physiotherapy to heal everything up before baby comes! In saying that, thanks also for your patience since I did go a little MIA.

Coming up this week I have Turkey Burgers & Roasted Tomato Relish that you are going to love. I know everyone in my family ate it up instantly! Thanks for stopping by, and rest assured my blogging is back on! Have a wonderful week. Cheers! xo