Book Review: Lady Macbeth by Ava Reid
Lady Macbeth
Author: Ava Reid
Published: August 13, 2024
Hardback: 295 pages
Reviewed By: Kim
Kim’s Rating: 3 stars
Book Description:
The Lady knows the stories: how her eyes induce madness in men.
The Lady knows she will be wed to the Scottish brute, who does not leave his warrior ways behind when he comes to the marriage bed.
The Lady knows his hostile, suspicious court will be a game of strategy, requiring all of her wiles and hidden witchcraft to survive.
But the Lady does not know her husband has occult secrets of his own. She does not know that prophecy girds him like armor. She does not know that her magic is greater and more dangerous, and that it will threaten the order of the world.
She does not know this yet. But she will.
****Kim is guest reviewing today! She’s still around!!****
Kim’s Review:
Worst. Retelling. EVER.
You’d think by now I’d finally accept the old adage of “don’t judge a book by its cover” and quit buying books because they’re gorgeous. And it’s not like I even like retelling’s at all, especially retelling’s of my favorite stories. Macbeth is my favorite Shakespearean play. I did a monologue from it in one of my college drama classes and first fell in love back in 9th grade. Well, Reid ruined it. Murdered it. Mutilated it. And then didn’t even have the courtesy to go insane because of the guilt. Somehow, she managed to take a strong, independent, clever, ambitious, aspiring queen and turn her into an incompetent, petty victim who somehow fails at being a victim at all! The entire book was filled with feminist virtue signaling and man hating.
Lady Macbeth is only 17, forced into an arranged marriage with a man who is surprisingly gentle and patient with her, and while acting like she’s the smartest person in the room, manages to prove that she is in fact the dumbest person in the room. Then, a romance was added between the good lady and the king’s eldest son, in which she is reduced to a common YA stereotype. She is incapable of seeing the big picture and at her best is reactionary, always one step away from using her wits effectively. The one time she manages success is a simple and petty revenge story that just highlights her immaturity and short sightedness.
Reid managed to add some pretty cool fantasy elements to her story that lead me to wonder why she didn’t just write an original story that was “loosely inspired” by Macbeth and actually give us a good book. Nope. Instead, she reduced the complex and fascinating story of Macbeth to a yawning conflict between the genders with the woman showing herself to be a failure to herself and womankind at every turn. Lady Macbeth was a dynamic villainess whom you hated yet admired and obsessed over. This character was just a teenage eye roll.
Why then the three star review? Well, it kept me engaged and I even wrote a bunch of notes while reading it … so I’ll give it the extra star for at least being emotionally and intellectually stimulated, even it was was criticizing the whole time.
My conclusion is that Reid didn’t understand Macbeth to begin with and then went so far as to completely reduce one of the most famous Shakespearean characters to a weak and pedestrian cliche. And I’m still upset about it.
Purchase Links:
Amazon US
Amazon UK
Audiobook Review: A Daughter of Fair Verona by Christina Dodd
A Daughter of Fair Verona
Series: Daughter of Montague #1
Author: Christina Dodd
Narrator: Suzy Jackson
Published: June 25, 2024
Audiobook: 8 hours 23 minutes
Reviewed By: Jessica
Dates Listened To: June 18-25, 2024
Jessica’s Rating: 4 stars
Audiobook Description:
Once upon a time a young couple met and fell in love. You probably know that story, and how it ended (badly). Only here’s the that’s not how it ended at all.
Romeo and Juliet are alive and well and the parents of seven kids. I’m the oldest, with the emphasis on ‘old’—a certified spinster at twenty, and happy to stay that way. It’s not easy to keep your taste for romance with parents like mine. Picture it—constant monologues, passionate declarations, fighting, making up, making out . . . it’s exhausting.
Each time they’ve presented me with a betrothal, I’ve set out to find the groom-to-be a more suitable bride. After all, someone sensible needs to stay home and manage this household. But their latest match, Duke Stephano, isn’t so easy to palm off on anyone else. The debaucher has had three previous wives—all of whom met unfortunate ends. Conscience forbids me from consigning another woman to that fate. As it turns out, I don’t have to . . .
At our betrothal ball—where, quite by accident, I meet a beautiful young man who makes me wonder if perhaps there is something to love at first sight—I stumble upon Duke Stephano with a dagger in his chest. But who killed him? His late wives’ families, his relatives, his mistress, his servants—half of Verona had motive. And when everyone around the Duke begins dying, disappearing, or descending into madness, I know I must uncover the killer . . . before death lies on me like an untimely frost.
Jessica’s Review:
Everyone read Romeo and Juliet in high school or knows their story. A Daughter of Fair Verona is a novel written with a basis of “What if…” Romeo and Juliet had not died at the end of their story? Needless to say, it wouldn’t be the ‘end’ of their story. And this story is narrated by their daughter Rosaline aka Rosie. And yes, she is named after that Rosaline!
I have always enjoyed the story of Romeo and Juliet and looked forward to reading this continuing story. I was sent a audio copy to listen to from the publisher and really enjoyed it! We have Rosie who knows her parents’ story as does everyone in Verona. Rosie is feisty, smart, and independent. And she despises poetry! She is also our narrator.
Romeo and Juliet have tried to find a suitable husband for Rosie several times, but in the end Rosie find a much better wife than she would have been. Until she meets her parents latest match in Duke Stephano. But he meets an untimely death and she therefore doesn’t have to marry him. The same night of the Duke’s death, Rosie has a love at first sight encounter. Rosie also becomes he suspect in the Duke’s murder, but then so many people had a reason to want the Duke dead.
This is a fun and entertaining murder mystery if you enjoy the Romeo and Juliet story. I found myself not liking Juliet’s love a first sight suitor, I was rooting for another to win her heart. A Daughter of Fair Verona ends on a cliffhanger, but the ending is just getting you ready for book two in the series. I find myself looking forward to it!
The narrator is Suzy Jackson and she was perfect to narrate this story: She brought Rosie to life with her total spunky attitude!
Many thanks to the publisher for granting me a copy to listen to and review! I really enjoyed it!
Purchase Links:
Amazon US
Amazon UK
The Cold is in Her Bones
Author: Peternelle van Arsdale
Published: January 22, 2019
288 Pages
Reviewed By: Kim
Kim’s Rating: 4 stars
Book Description:
One girl must uncover secrets of the past to save her friend from a terrible curse in this dark and mesmerizing story of love, revenge, and redemption inspired by the myth of Medusa.
Milla knows two things to be true: Demons are real, and fear will keep her safe.
Milla’s whole world is her family’s farm. She is never allowed to travel to the village and her only friend is her beloved older brother, Niklas. When a bright-eyed girl named Iris comes to stay, Milla hopes her loneliness might finally be coming to an end. But Iris has a secret she’s forbidden to share: The village is cursed by a demon who possesses girls at random, and the townspeople live in terror of who it will come for next.
Now, it seems, the demon has come for Iris. When Iris is captured and imprisoned with other possessed girls, Milla leaves home to rescue her and break the curse forever. Her only company on the journey is a terrible new secret of her own: Milla is changing, too, and may soon be a demon herself.
The Cold Is in Her Bones is a novel about the dark, reverberating power of pain, the yearning to be seen and understood, and the fragile optimism of love.
Kim’s Review:
This cover drew me to it like the sirens drew sailors to their shores!! I fell in love as soon as I saw it!! It’s AMAZING!!!! The cover is so perfect for the story! There is an “institution” of a sort in this book, but on the more fantastical side . . . Hey I’ll take it.
Apparently, this story is based on Medusa. I honestly had no idea until I went to Goodreads to mark it as “read”. I just got caught up in the story so easily and I spent the entire book dying to know what happens next. The curse on the town and its people was interesting and all I wanted was to learn more. I do have to make one thing very clear: I HATE snakes. I go completely rigid anytime I see a snake. If one comes into the room, my first instinct is to panic and run as fast as I can. Somehow, Arsdale made snakes sound friendly and cute. That alone guarantees a good review! I know I keep saying that I can’t write too much in my reviews because I don’t want to give too much away, and this is another of those times!
I will give my one criticism: I really don’t like this lesson of you don’t have to follow the rules if you don’t like them. I get that authors are trying to write characters who empower girls and help them to stand up for themselves and all that. Ok, fine, great. But what I don’t like is telling anyone that rules shouldn’t apply if you disagree with them. Real life doesn’t work like that, kiddies! Most times, rules are there for a reason. We may not like them, but sometimes we gotta do stuff we don’t like! Other than that, I really liked this book and I absolutely recommend it. Thankfully, it’s very clean and completely appropriate for teens.
Purchase Links:
Amazon US
Amazon UK
