Synopsis:

taken from Goodreads

In the house of Helios, god of the sun and mightiest of the Titans, a daughter is born. But Circe is a strange child--neither powerful like her father nor viciously alluring like her mother. Turning to the world of mortals for companionship, she discovers that she does possess power: the power of witchcraft, which can transform rivals into monsters and menace the gods themselves.

Threatened, Zeus banishes her to a deserted island, where she hones her occult craft, tames wild beasts, and crosses paths with many of the most famous figures in all of mythology, including the Minotaur, Daedalus and his doomed son Icarus, the murderous Medea, and, of course, wily Odysseus.

But there is danger, too, for a woman who stands alone, and Circe unwittingly draws the wrath of both men and gods, ultimately finding herself pitted against one of the most terrifying and vengeful of the Olympians. To protect what she loves most, Circe must summon all her strength and choose, once and for all, whether she belongs with the gods she is born from or with the mortals she has come to love.

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Review:

I will start with Madeline’s way with words which is very soft, gentle and beautiful. She describes Circe’s feelings up to the point of disturbance, she makes the reader feel everything without any compensation. From Circe’s lonely days in Helion’s hall to her first relationship betrayal to the irony that she keeps being herself undoubtedly while everyone around her is hurting her. We face a character growth which started after her banishment that in my opinion served her better than she thought. If she never got banished, she would have kept the same meaningless eternity being a shadow of herself.

I wish I actually liked the book more. Miller’s writing deserves more credit and definitely more plot. 70% of the book felt very dull to me I almost felt banished to an empty island myself. It lacked excitement, action and plot twists as everything was predictable and I was praying for something that will make me want to read it for a day. Unfortunately, only the end was a small compensation for the rest of the book.

To conclude:

I would recommend the book if you enjoy a slow read because that’s exactly how it goes in this book. You will read about slow days in exile and thoughts that sometimes bother you. Thankfully, Madeline Miler’s style of writing makes the slow read pleasant. The reason I am giving 3/5 stars is the lack of events/action which is definitely more my type of reading,

As a first review, I have decided to finally finish “How to Win Friends and Influence People” by Dale Carnegie. And so to be honest with you, I took my time reading it. It took me way more time to finally say that I have finished the book. You have to see my annotations because they’re a mess. But hey, we are making some baby steps here. We will go back on track with reading books and of course, writing some articles and reviews about them.

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About the author

Dale Carnegie is a very interesting man. He is not only a writer but also a lecturer who has spent a good time of his years teaching people about public speaking, behavior, making corporate training, and developing communication skills.

He like many other writers came from a poor family in Missouri and had to grind his way out of poverty. We can safely say that he did more than that. Dale not only did teach thousands of people, companies, and small businesses during his time, but he keeps teaching the modern generations with his most precious heritage to the world — his books.

How The Book changed me

Dale is having a very interesting way to write. The book overall was like an academic masterpiece in 275 pages without a bibliography (inserts academic joke, hehe). He would make a statement and straight away shoot us with arguments and proof. His examples can put one in a “wow” state because most of them are including some famous people like Lincoln and General Álvaro Obregón and many other people that are not part of the living anymore but Dale was alive during their lifetime and in some cases, he was there witnessing what he was writing about.

The book changed and improved my judgment, made me realize things that I never thought about, and confirmed right some other things that I already knew.

Review

This is my first self-growth book review, and I was very excited when thinking about the best way to write about it, but honestly, I don’t think there is something like “the best” or “the worst”. I do what I always liked to do, just sit and write whatever comes into my mind.

There is one reason I found this (and probably all self-growth books) hard to complete. Texts like that feel more like academic work and it makes you feel like you are in school. By any means, they are still very useful and interesting, but as a fiction reader myself, sometimes I would lack the motivation to once again read about “statement — examples — final thoughts” in every chapter. Still, that does not mean that Dale’s book is not captivating enough — trust me it is.

How to Win Friends and Influence People is written in four parts and each part is having a few chapters that he calls “principles” so each chapter of each part is a different way to win friends and influence.

I have indeed annotated a lot in this book and I am happy to share some things I found very useful that I am going to use moving forward in my personal life and career. Some thoughts and quotes I have saved from the book are not Dale’s but they fit right with some of my real-life encounters as well.

Isn’t that quite true? We are often caught that if we reward someone we are going to have way more effect rather than scolding or punishing. Pure criticism will only create pure hostility.

Criticism can drive many people to give up their dreams and make the miserable. I know many of us would say things like “You shouldn’t care about that, do what you like!” This is an absolutely fair thing to suggest, but we are not all built the same way, we do not take hate and criticism the same way simply because we are all human. (Be kind to each other ❤️)

Just like Benjamin Franklin once said:

I decided to end this review with this specific quote from the book because I have always been interested in hearing about people’s dreams and goals and what makes them feel important to the world, what is their life goals, and what makes them wake up and smile.

To conclude

Overall, I enjoyed this book a lot and I would recommend it to people who are just starting their journey into the self-growth world of books and they want to learn how to properly deal with people in different scenarios. It is a great read for people of any age.

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The first half of the book was about Jude and her sister being tormented by Cardan (The Cruel Prince) and his group of friends while in the second part of the last 100 pages finally, something intriguing happened. Don’t get me wrong most book series always start slow and boring, however, this one is having just a few things missing from actually being an amazing book.

You’d do well to decide how much you care for goodness before you go too far down the road of spycraft.

Characters

Jude is ambitious, cunning, a liar and many more things she was probably surprised herself. The story is written from her view of point which made me feel a bit annoyed at times. She is very confusing and selfish up to the point of confusing the reader about what even her goal really is. I think the book should have been named “The Liar Mortal” or “The Cunning Queen” because that’s what she is.

Taryn is an absolute selfish child that only cares about status and it’s ready to betray her own family for it. She is literally Jude but more blunt and weak.

Cardan can be called the cruel prince for sure, however, at times I think Jude can be crueller than him. If anything he cannot lie and that is perfect for someone like Jude. He can be likeable because of his honesty.

Vivienne is a rebel and the most likeable character in the first book. She was written as a character that hates and wants to make Madoc’s life harder but at the end of the day she is the only person in the book that is trying to gain a normal life instead of a luxury. We have to appreciate that.

World

I am not sure if there is much to write here about. The book was really cutting us off from the scenery and the world they live in it just makes it harder to imagine how it actually looks. Maybe I am saltier about the world-building and the lack of an actual magic system and the fight scenes (Wait there were actual fight scenes?).

To conclude

I will most likely continue the series and see how far Jude and Cardan will go. As much as I did not enjoy it I am willing to give Black another chance with different series. It was my first experience with fae universe and it is far from terrible, just not satisfactory.

Instead of being afraid, I will become something to fear.