Book Review: A Greyhound of a Girl

Book: A Greyhound of a Girl
Author: Roddy Doyle
Genre: Paranormal (Middle-Grade)
Rating: 3/5
Page Count: 208 (Hardcover)
Favorite Character: Tansey, I think. Hard to say, but I'm going to go with her!

Plot: (From Goodreads)

Mary O'Hara is a sharp and cheeky 12-year-old Dublin schoolgirl who is bravely facing the fact that her beloved Granny is dying. But Granny can't let go of life, and when a mysterious young woman turns up in Mary's street with a message for her Granny, Mary gets pulled into an unlikely adventure. The woman is the ghost of Granny's own mother, who has come to help her daughter say good-bye to her loved ones and guide her safely out of this world. She needs the help of Mary and her mother, Scarlett, who embark on a road trip to the past. Four generations of women travel on a midnight car journey. One of them is dead, one of them is dying, one of them is driving, and one of them is just starting out.

Review:

The reason that the rating isn't higher is because I did have some problems with it. Overall, however, it was a cute, short read about 4 women in a generation who, eventually, go on an adventure. It was interesting to read about the four generations, because, as with relatives, you could see the similarities in them. It also took place in Ireland, which is what drew me to it in the first place.

However, I didn't really like some of the dialogue and how sometimes the girl seemed much younger then she was. Mostly, though, it was the dialogue. Some of the dialogue just didn't sound realistic, it didn't flow right, and it said, a few times, "!!" instead of someone saying "exclamation point." (I got a galley, so this might be changed in the finished book, but I haven't gotten my hands on a copy yet to see). Of course it's a middle grade, but I'd never seen it written like that, it was really odd.

The four women are Tansey, short for Anastasia, Emer- reffered to mostly as Granny-, Scarlet, and Mary. Mary was the youngest, at 12. It's hard to keep straight, sometimes, but it was interesting all the same. However, sometimes it felt like they were all too alike, but some of the back and forth was cute.

Overall, to wrap it up, it was okay. Not great, but not bad. Some of the dialogue didn't flow right, the women seemed too alike at points, the girl seemed younger then she was, and, I didn't say this before, but some of the characters outside the four seemed very 1 dimensional. But it wasn't really about them, at all, so it was okay that they fell into the foreground. If you're just looking for a cute short book then maybe give this one a try, because the story was nice to read about.

March Wrap-Up

These are all the books that I read in March, what they're about, and a very short little idea of what I thought of them.

I read quite a few books this month, so let's just go right into it.

Eureka: Dormant Gene (5/5)
This is a graphic novel and it's based on the SyFy show Eureka. It's about, obviously, some problems with people's genes. It was much better then I thought it was going to be and there was a little thing about this book that was a spoof of Twilight and it had me giggling as I read about the effect on the genius population. Normal kids just put on eye liner, genius' can change your gene code.

Clarity by Kim Harrington (5/5)
This is a story about a girl who is a psychic and is kind of dropped in the middle of this mysterious murder. Now, I really enjoyed this book, even though murder mysterious aren't normally what I read. It was just too interesting to not enjoy. There's more to say, but really I just really liked it. I hope to put a full review of this one soon.

Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side by Beth Fantaskey (3/5)
Now, I wasn't going to read this book because of the name, because that is just not a good name. It's much too romance-y for me and I don't like romance books. This book wasn't that bad, though, it was entertaining, but at points I feel like some spots didn't need to last so long and others maybe a little longer.

Born Wicked by Jessica Spotswood. (5/5)
Loved it. I loved everything about it. My full review can be found here, but if you like witches and/or alternate history stories then I suggest you check this on out. It's by a debut author and this is really quite a debut.

A Greyhound of a Girl by Roddy Doyle (3/5)
I got this as a galley and the full review will be up closer to the release. I enjoyed it, it was cute, it's not going to change the world, but I don't think that was the point of it. I'd suggest checking this one out if you think the full synopsis sounds interesting.

Oppression by Jessica Therrien (5/5)
If you want to see my full review you can go here, but over all I really enjoyed this book. I liked it's mythology and history and I adored the characters.

Duma Key by Stephen King (5/5)
This book, just, this book. I adore this book. I first read it two years ago and I'd forgotten just how lovable and relatable these characters are. I've never gone through what they have, but they're human and their emotions are just so pure, it's impossible not to feel for them. Everyone should read this book, just everyone. So much story in these pages. Hopefully I'll be putting a full review up of this one soon.

A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin (5/5)
I started a post to review this book and I don't even know where to start. It was amazing, if you still have doubts about reading this book, just read it. It's not perfect, but on the other hand it kind of is. I think when you'd wish something different had happened so that some characters could be happier then you've become invested in them. And there are a lot of amazing, in depth, characters in this book. They're not all lovable, but they are all amazing. You should definitely read this book!

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (5/5)
This book was so much better then what I was expecting. I was blown away by this book just because I didn't expect what it was. Because it's not just a silly love story, it's so much more then that. And Austen's writing is just, well, it's perfect. I'd recommend checking this one out if you haven't already.

Beastly by Alex Flinn (4/5)
I wasn't sure when I first started this book because I hated Kyle, but he got better and then I really started to like him. This is just what you've heard a modernized version of the tale of Beauty and the Beast and it's amazing and just a little bit more then that. It has a depth that I wasn't expecting. It's a short, cute book, with amazing characters.

Whew! That was quite a few books and a good percentage of them were 5/5, so we're calling this a really good reading month. I read 10 books overall and I hope yours was just as good. I hope your day/night/week/month is awesome.