@Chynnaaa on Litsy

The Lovecraft Compendium | Hop Lovecraft

Horror and Fantasy Fiction

January 27th, 2020
February 4th, 2020

I've always wanted to read one of H.P Lovecraft's works.

This novel was a compilation of short narratives that portray different characters and their experiences with Lovecraft's horrors. The growing dread throughout the book is emphasized by the fact that no one finds peace. There is no happy ending, and their struggles are left unanswered.

Chynnaaa There's an ancient race of cosmic proportions that are beyond anything anyone's ever imagined. Although they rest for now, secret cults strive to work towards their resurrection. These creatures will devastate the human civilization, and will probably wipe out everyone to rebuild their lost society. None of the characters find a way to stop them. The world can only hope that they don't live long enough to see the revival of Lovecraft's creations. 4y

1 comment

Chynnaaa

The Motion of Puppets: A Novel | Keith Donohue

Horror and Fantasy Fiction

Date started: December 11th, 2019
Date finished: December 13th, 2019

The cover was so beautiful, that I tripped in the Dollarama aisle. The illustration left me hanging.

The Motion of Puppets is one of the greatest stories I've ever read, and I honestly can't believe I found this in Dollarama.

Chynnaaa The Motion of Puppets is a modern version of the Orpheus and Eurydice myth, and the tragic love ripped apart in a moment of looking back. In the city of Quebec, Kay Parker quietly loves a puppet in the window of the Quatre Mains, a toy shop that seemingly never opens. After months of watching for an opportunity to have the puppet, the lights turn on one night, and Kay slips inside. Her husband Theo waits in their apartment. She doesn't come home. 4y

Chynnaaa Kay Parker awakes to find herself in a vessel of stiff, wooden limbs. She is surrounded by other living puppets, with some souls that date back to the Victorian era. The puppet masters will never let her leave, insisting that she was born to perform on a stage. Kay was a circus gymnast before her life as a puppet, and Theo investigates the disappearance of his wife relentlessly. He doesn't give up on her throughout the entire story. 4y

Chynnaaa The ending of The Motion in Puppets was heartbreakingly beautiful. I cried even after I closed the book. Theo turns into a puppet to save Kay from the metaphorical hell. If you know the story of Orpheus and Eurydice, then you know how it ends for the two lovers. The Motion of Puppets features loving someone through heaven and hell, no matter the shape, and the recognition of souls. I'll definitely read other works from the author. 4y

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Chynnaaa

Crying for the Moon: A Novel | Mary Walsh

Adult Fiction

Date started: December 3rd, 2019
Date finished: December 10th, 2019

The cover feels really nice. It's textured softly, with eye-catching colours reminiscent of the 60s and 70s. I found this book at Dollarama.

Chynnaaa Crying for the Moon takes place in St. John's, Newfoundland, in the late 1960s. Maureen Brennan lives with abusive parents, and attends a Catholic school with abusive nuns. She often wonders if there's more to life that she's missing out on. One night, Maureen and her best friend sneak out of the school, barely escaping the ever watchful eyes of the nuns. Her best friend makes several bad decisions, that change the course of Maureen's life. 4y

Chynnaaa Maureen falls in love with Bo, a man who loves her back the same way her parents did. Through constant abuse behind closed doors, the story takes a dark turn when Maureen tampers with Bo's food using rat poison. Bo dies unexpectedly, but from what? He was also being targeted by shady figures in the drug world. Bo was caught up in the wrong side of the city, and being found dead in the trunk of a car steers the story in a new and wild direction.
(edited) 4y

Chynnaaa Crying for the Moon was a very difficult and gritty read. Maureen was also abusive to herself, mirroring the environment she grew up in. The comedy aspect was targeted towards a mature audience because the humour was lost in the metaphors and the grimness of the situation. I wanted to cry and laugh at some parts. It's a book where you stumble and crash into the plotline, enjoying the desperation every step of the way. 4y

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Chynnaaa

All the Birds in the Sky | Charlie Jane Anders

Science and Fantasy Fiction

Date started: November 27th, 2019
Date finished: December 2nd, 2019

Honestly, Dollarama has pretty good books. I've found great stories there from time to time. I found this book while buying snacks.

Chynnaaa Patricia Delfine is naturally gifted at magic. She learns she can talk to animals when she wanders into a forest as a child, where she encounters a bird kingdom that inhabits a World Tree. Laurence Armstead is naturally gifted at science. At a young age, he invents a wrist-held time machine that can propel him forward into the future two seconds. A group of rocket scientists grow to like Laurence, and they treat him like one of their own. 4y

Chynnaaa These two eccentric misfits find each other in the same private school. They form a desperate friendship, and they help refine each other's talents. However, circumstances split the two, and they go their separate ways. Patricia and Laurence meet again as adults, but a war between magic and science creates a rift between what they once had. They're on opposing sides, but they know the best of both worlds. 4y

Chynnaaa The war threatens to destroy life as we know it, and the stakes are detrimental to the world. Patricia and Laurence have to combine technology with nature's essence to mend the havoc. 'All the Birds in the Sky' features a love that slowly shifts and grows through time, and how it connects opposites by being each others' counterpart. It also showed the progression towards advancements in technology, and how the world began to forget nature. 4y

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Chynnaaa

Daughter of the Pirate King | Tricia Levenseller

Romance, Fantasy, and Young Adult Fiction

Date started: November 22nd, 2019
Date finished: November 24th, 2019

I found this book at a local thrift store, after there was a sale for novels. It was almost brand new, and the cover looked promising.

The protagonist is iconic and uses sarcasm as her main weapon. She drove the story forward with her daring and charismatic personality.

Chynnaaa The ruthless Pirate King catches wind of a legendary pirate map hidden on an enemy ship. Princess Alosa takes on the solo mission and leaves behind her crew. She plans an elaborate situation to ensure she gets kidnapped by the enemies, and make it aboard the ship. Neither she nor the handsome captain, expect their paths to cross. Alosa faces a dilemma: to follow her orders or to pursue the love she found in the most unexpected place. (edited) 4y

Catherine_Willoughby How do you make your reviews so long ? I can't post after 455 characters 😔 4y

Chynnaaa @Catherine_Willoughby I continue the review in the comment section to bypass the character limit 👌 4y

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Chynnaaa

Little Boy Blue: DI Helen Grace 5 | M. J. Arlidge

Mystery Thriller and Suspense

Date started: November 19th, 2019
Date finished: November 21st, 2019

Pages: 374

The title caught my eye. Personally, I think the cover does the story no justice because the plotline was surprisingly better than I expected. I really liked the continuous buildups towards the suspects and the frustrating revelations that meant the case wasn't over. The twists were very well executed and I couldn't put the book down.

Chynnaaa Little Boy Blue is the fifth book in a detective series that features DI (Detective Inspector) Helen Grace. I haven't read any of the other books in the series but I would definitely recommend this to others who enjoy Criminal Minds. Helen Grace faces off against a serial killer, who knows the secrets and private places of her nightlife. All of the victims share a common tie with Helen Grace, and her career is at risk if her colleagues find out. 4y

Chynnaaa Helen Grace is being watched by the unseen eyes of the city. Readers are led to make their own judgements and even begin to doubt Helen Grace at times. Slowly, the police force begins to turn against her, and the only ones who still trust Helen are picked off one by one. Eventually, there's no one left who can testify for Helen and the evidence points to her. The whole case was planned against Helen, as a means for revenge. 4y

Chynnaaa There's definitely a sequel to the story. Little Boy Blue ends with a fast-paced and cruel twist, with Helen Grace being convicted for crimes she didn't do. The real killer is from her past, which I won't reveal. I would advise readers to start from the beginning of the series, so that they don't have to piece together the missing parts like I did. Overall, Little Boy Blue is a must-read crime thriller. It reminds me of Murder by Numbers. 4y

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Chynnaaa

Incarnate: A Novel | Josh Stolberg

Genre: Mystery and Thriller Fiction

Date started: October 11th, 2019
Date finished: October 16th, 2019

My friend recommended this book to me as one of her favorites. Incarnate stood out to me because of its striking prologue, and the medical anomalies that drove the plotline forward. Overall, I would recommend it to others for a fast-paced and engaging read.

Chynnaaa Several missing locals and the murder of Isabel Wilcox devestates the sleepy town of Jarvis, Alaska. The evidence points towards Scarlett Hascall, a 19-year-old who seemingly suffers from Dissociative Identity Disorder. If she really did kill Isabel Wilcox, she can‘t remember. Scarlett suffers from sporadic blackouts, waking up with no memory as to what happened while she was passed out. 4y

Chynnaaa Dr. Kim Patterson is known for her unconventional methods of connecting with patients. Her eccentric decisions often clash with medical protocol, but that doesn‘t stop her from risking her career on the Hascall case. 4y

Chynnaaa Dr. Patterson‘s diagnosis for DID matches the symptoms and behavior that Scarlett exhibits. However, Scarlett begins to take on the personalities of several missing locals. Is Scarlett a skilled pathological liar? Is she somehow channeling them? Scarlett herself doesn‘t know if she‘s innocent of the crimes she‘s being accused of. 4y

Chynnaaa Kim Patterson is the only person who believes that Scarlett Hascall is innocent. Kim struggles to fight against the staggering case to prove that there‘s something more to Scarlett Hascall than a cold blooded killer. 4y

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Chynnaaa

The Woman in White | Wilkie COLLINS

Mystery and Gothic Fiction
Sensation Novel

Pages: 512

Date started: October 16, 2019
Date finished: October 30, 2019

I thought the cover was quite beautiful. After reading the synopsis, this mystery set in the Victorian era got me hooked. I really liked the alternating narratives from different characters.

Chynnaaa Walter Hartright, a respected artist, is hired at the Limmeridge House to guide two young women in the art of drawing, Marian Halcombe and Laura Fairlie. He meets a peculiar woman who remarkably resembles Ms. Fairlie (one of the two women he‘s teaching). Hartright helps the stranger catch a ride to London. Later, he learns that the woman is an asylum escapee, and that he can be charged as an accomplice in her escape. (edited) 4y

Chynnaaa Walter Hartright and Laura Fairlie fall in love during their time together at the Limmeridge House. However, Ms. Fairlie had promised to marry Sir Percival Glyde when her father was on his deathbed. Ms. Halcombe arranges to send Mr. Hartright away from Limmeridge House to prevent any more despair between him and Ms. Fairlie. 4y

Chynnaaa Anne Catherick (the mystery woman Mr. Hartright met) had lived at the Limmeridge House when she was a child. She was extremely fond of Mrs. Fairlie (Laura Fairlie‘s mother). After Mrs. Fairlie passes away, Anne Catherick promises to watch over Laura. Anne learns about the engagement between Laura and Percival Glyde, and tries to intervene before the marriage takes place. Laura is brokenhearted from parting with Walter. She marries Percival Glyde. 4y

Chynnaaa Percival is after the money that Ms. Fairlie is meant to inherit, planning to use her wealth to pay off his growing debts. Marian is the only person who can help Laura Fairlie in her dangerous marriage. Percival‘s good friend, Count Fosco, plans to kill Laura in order to maximize the profit earned. Marian has to save her sister from the life she promised herself to. Walter Hartright did not forget Laura Fairlie and neither has Anne Catherick. (edited) 4y

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Chynnaaa

The Tangled Lands | Paolo Bacigalupi, Tobias S. Buckell

Genre: Fantasy and Dystopian Fiction

Date Started: September 12, 2019
Date Completed: September 26th, 2019

Why did you choose this book?
I thought the cover looked really interesting. It was also on sale for $2.

Write a brief summary of the novel; who was the protagonist; what was his/her problem and how was the problem resolved? (continued in the comments)

Chynnaaa The Tangled Lands is a collection of 4 different stories that take place in the same universe. Each section features the struggle of unique characters in a world where corrupt people monopolize the freedom to use magic. Thick bramble spreads across the land, choking entire kingdoms and forcing refugees to find home in neighbouring countries. Workers burn the bramble every waking hour to try and push back the poison. (edited) 5y

Chynnaaa However, bramble pods burst open with seeds and will eventually grow back. Bramble feeds on magic, a fact that's exploited and abused by royal families which creates the driving force of the plot in The Tangled Lands. The kiss of bramble guarantees death to anyone who brushes against its thin tendrils. Section I tells the story of The Alchemist, who figures out a way to destroy bramble completely. (edited) 5y

Chynnaaa Section II features The Executioness, the daughter of the Executioner, paid to deliver the sentence of death to anyone caught using magic. Her family is slaughtered and her sons are taken by raiders from Paika. She revolts against the entire kingdom of Paika (twisted religious people who try to stop the use of magic), with an army of widows and women who have suffered the ravage and ruin of war. (edited) 5y

Chynnaaa Section III is about two children in Lesser Khaim, where the refugees from dead cities flock to. They search and scavenge for bramble pods in exchange for a meal everyday. This section thoroughly explains the slow process of bramble sleep. Mop (the older brother) struggles to find his dead sister who was abducted in the dark. (edited) 5y

Chynnaaa Section IV is about The Blacksmith's Daughter. Her family fell for the elaborate plan crafted by a Duke. He commissions them for a suit of armour with an impossible deadline and far too expensive materials needed. Should they fail, their heads will appear on Khaim's spiked gates. Sofija (the blacksmith's daughter) is a mixture of the main characters in every section. She encompasses the qualities that stand out the most throughout each story. (edited) 5y

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Chynnaaa

Joined September 2019