Weekly Wrap-Up: 4/24 – 4/30

The Weekly Wrap-Up is back on schedule! Yay!

This last week was a bit less busy. Thank goodness. I was able to post quite a bit, and I even started a new post yesterday.

But that’s enough of a preamble. Let’s get into the wrap-up.

Tuesday 4/25: Chance Review

Chance by Matthew FitzSimmons

Last Tuesday, I finally posted my review of Chance by Matthew FitzSimmons. It’s a science fiction book that I was really on the fence about. I gave it ★★★☆☆.

My review of Chance

Wednesday 4/26: WWW Wednesday

On Wednesday I participated in another WWW Wednesday. WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Sam @ Taking on a World of Words.

WWW Wednesday 4/26

Thursday 4/27: In the Lives of Puppets Review

In the Lives of Puppets by TJ Klune

Thursday was when I posted my review for the much anticipated, In the Lives of Puppets by TJ Klune. It’s a sci-fi inspired retelling of Pinocchio. I gave it ★★★★★.

My review of In the Lives of Puppets

Friday 4/28: First Line Friday

On Friday, I participated in First Line Fridays. First Line Fridays is a weekly feature (formerly) hosted by Wandering Words.

First Line Friday #12

Sunday 4/30: Popular Books That I’ve Read Never

Yesterday, I tried out a new thing I like to call Popular Books That I’ve Read Never. This is a post where I make a little list of popular books that I’ve never read. That’s it, that’s the post.

Popular Books That I’ve Read Never

Books I Read Last Week

In the Lives of Puppets by TJ Klune
Noragami: Stray God by Adachotoka
(Rating is for entire manga.)
Arch-Conspirator by Veronica Roth

Goals for 5/1 – 5/7

For the most part, I want to keep up the momentum of what I’m posting. I also want to do my monthly wrap-up for April, hopefully tomorrow. I’d also, if the day allows, really, really like to post another Majestic Monday, since it’s been so long, and I just like book covers so much.

Concerning my book consumption, I definitely want to read more than last week. I really feel like I could’ve read more, so I want to do so this week.

As always, thank you so much for reading, and have a wonderful day/night!

See ya ~Mar

WWW Wednesday 4/26

So, I’m very happy to say that the reading slump is officially gone! I’m on my third book within a week! Yay! And it’s a great one, too!

WWW Wednesday is a meme that used to be hosted at A Daily Rhythm, but has been taken over by Sam @ Taking on a World of Words. Now, without further ado, let’s get into the 3 Ws!

The 3 Ws of WWW Wednesday:

What are you currently reading?

What did you recently finish reading?

What do you think you’ll read next?


The Thing I’m Currently Reading

In the Lives of Puppets by TJ Klune

In the Lives of Puppets by TJ Klune

CURRENT STATUS: 42%

CURRENT FEELS: 😍 (really, really loving it)


The Thing I Just Finished Reading

Chance by Matthew FitzSimmons

Chance by Matthew FitzSimmons

★★★☆☆ • 3 / 5


The Thing I Might Read Next

The Dragon Heir by Cinda Williams Chima

The Dragon Heir by Cinda Williams Chima

Finally gonna finish this trilogy!! Yay!!


As always, thank you so much for reading and have an awesome day/night!

See ya ~Mar

“Chance” by Matthew FitzSimmons | Book Review

“So, who’s ready to see me do something crazy?”

Chance by Matthew FitzSimmons

Chance by Matthew FitzSimmons

SERIES: Constance (Book #2)

LENGTH: 313 pages

GENRES: Science Fiction, Fiction

PUBLISHER: Thomas & Mercer

RELEASE DATE: 14 February 2023

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

A clone plays a dangerous game of life, death, memory, and murder in a twisting thriller by Wall Street Journal bestselling author Matthew FitzSimmons.

Cloning is a luxury for the wealthy. For Chance Harker, it’s a way of getting on with his lives. Five years ago, when he was sixteen, he and his brother, Marley, were murdered in a kidnapping gone wrong. Chance was revived—and his grieving parents met his existence with anger, neglect, and aversion. The public, though? They can’t get enough of the death-defying stunts he has parlayed into a social media spectacle.

But after Chance’s latest “refresh,” he awakens to accusations that he’s killed Lee Conway, a stranger Chance has never met. Has one of his clones? With no memory of his previous selves, and working fast before he’s arrested, Chance digs into Conway’s background, the mysteries of his own life—and death—and the tragic abduction that tore his family apart.

All Chance has to do is stay ahead of the LAPD; his kidnappers, who are back on the hunt; and a growing mob of incensed protesters outraged that a rich clone appears to be getting away with murder.

My Review

There’d been a purpose behind all this once, back at the beginning. Back when he’d stopped being a person and had become “the victim of a terrible crime.” Or, to put it more accurately, the clone of a victim of a terrible crime.

So, before I get into my review, I should probably mention that I jumped right into this series via this book. The second book. But I should also mention that the books in this series were written in such a way, to be also accessible as standalones.

But yeah, I kind of read it out of order. So what?

Anyway, let’s just let the cat out of the bag: I didn’t like this book as much as I’d hoped to. I really thought this was gonna be an easy five star read for me, but it wasn’t. Like, it definitely wasn’t that bad of a book – I did give it three stars. It just wasn’t as good as I was hoping it would be.

Let’s start with the stuff I liked. I really liked our protagonist, Chance. He was a bit of an idiot, especially at first, but he was attempting to deal with his trauma, even if it wasn’t in a good way. But his development as a character is nice to follow, and I loved watching him grow and change.

Chance tried to remember the last time his father had hugged him and came up blank.

His complex and strained relationships with his family were also very interesting to read about. These were the most compelling aspects of the novel, in my opinion, and these moments were the primary reason I wanted to see how it all ended.

Other than that, the plot was pretty interesting, and I liked all the science-y world building around the clones and the other futuristic tech.

But yeah, that’s kind of it for the stuff I enjoyed. I didn’t really care about the rest of the characters, or find them interesting. I didn’t even care for the antagonists.

Also, and this might be because I didn’t read the first book, but I didn’t really like Con D’Arcy either. I know that she was the protagonist of the Constance, and that a lot of people seemed to like her, but I just kind of found her annoying. Sorry.

The POV and voice also didn’t feel like it was coming from a 21 year-old guy. You should be able to discern a character’s voice regardless of what POV it’s in. Their personality should shine through more than it does in this book.

Oh and also, Mickey7 did the whole Ship of Theseus clone meditation thing way better.

She looked at him sadly. “Did you know that the more money a person has, the harder it is for them to identify facial expressions in others?

Chance also felt exceedingly preachy at times, and this is the biggest reason why I felt turned off by it. I hate it when the characters appear to be mouthpieces for the author to launch into their opinions and grievances about the world. Don’t get me wrong, it isn’t necessarily a bad thing, I just appreciate it with a lot more subtlety. Which is something that this novel didn’t have. At all.

Other minor criticisms include: reiterating the same thing a character said or came to a conclusion about less than a page ago multiple different times; unnatural dialogue; and weird descriptions. I don’t care about what this same-y area looks like describe the goddam characters.

Guys, I just want to enjoy a story. Is that so much to ask?

But nothing stayed hidden forever, did it?

Chance by Matthew FitzSimmons was a very mid, very preachy, sci-fi story set in the near future. I liked a few things about it, but so many things about it irritated me at the same time.

I recommend you definitely read it if you read and enjoyed Constance, and I think you should give it a shot if you like science fiction stuff set in the next few decades.

As always, thank you so much for reading, and have a great day/night!

See ya ~Mar

WWW Wednesday 4/19

Okay. So I’m not reading nearly as much as I had been last month, and that’s slightly disappointing. But that’s cuz I, very unfortunately, fell into a bit of a reading slump midway through last week. So I’ve been holding off. But I’ve recently started a new book that I’m excited to read, so hopefully that slump is ending!

WWW Wednesday is a meme that used to be hosted at A Daily Rhythm, but has been taken over by Sam @ Taking on a World of Words. Now, without further ado, let’s get into the 3 Ws!

The 3 Ws of WWW Wednesday:

What are you currently reading?

What did you recently finish reading?

What do you think you’ll read next?


The Thing I’m Currently Reading

Antimatter Blues by Edward Ashton

Antimatter Blues by Edward Ashton

CURRENT STATUS: 2%

CURRENT FEELS: 😁 (excited)


The Thing I Just Finished Reading

The Cloud Roads by Martha Wells

The Cloud Roads by Martha Wells

★★★✯☆ • 3. 5 / 5


The Thing I Might Read Next

Chance by Matthew Fitzsimmons

Chance by Matthew Fitzsimmons


As always, thank you so much for reading, and have a wonderful day/night!

See ya ~Mar