Maple Books is now three months old! Seriously, this month was tough. I mentioned last month that I was a bit overworked and well, it didn’t get any better. If you wonder what it’s all about, I’m a game developer and we are launching our indie game Nexionode. It’s an insane amount of work and it’s just the two us: my Beloved and me.

Fortunately, there were books to relax! This month, I turned the Science-Fiction & Fantasy World Tour into a link party, which means that if you’re interested to join the feature, you can pick a SciFi or Fantasy book from the country of the month, publish a review on your blog and then link to it at the bottom of the relevant SFFWT article. This month was Poland and you still have two weeks if you want to join in! Next stop will be Portugal on the 18th of August.

Books reviewed this month

I actually finished a third Canadian book that I failed to review in time: Irregular Verbs and Other Stories by Matthew Johnson. This book is incredible and I need more time to write the proper review it deserves!

Other reads this month

The fault in our Stars, by John Green 

Just after writing a post about book hypes, I should have known better. But I was also convinced to read this book by dear Esther Grace Earl, author of This Star Won’t Go Out, who was an absolute fan of John Green. To be honest, the book was okay. But only okay. I couldn’t ignore how much Hazel looked like Esther. I couldn’t help finding the story a cheesy and far-fetched romance. I couldn’t help being annoyed at this teen-cancer romance written for mere entertainment purpose after I’ve read half of This Star Won’t Go Out, which might be less romantic but much more real. I still gave it three stars because it is really well written and the plot is catching.

The Spark, by Kristine Barnett

The Spark is not a novel, it’s the partial auto-biography of Kristine Barnett, mother of Jacob Barnett born in 1998 in Indiana, US, currently studying astrophysics at the Perimeter Institute in Waterloo, Ontario. Indeed, that deserves a book. The life of Jacob is certainly fascinating, especially when you consider that he was diagnosed with severe autism as a toddler. That being said, I found the book overly dramatic. Jake’s story is interesting enough, no need to pretend he almost starved during the United States housing bubble burst of 2007 for example!