Personal Rating: 4 Stars Goodreads Rating: Content Rating: Light R (many, many sexual comments, but nothing graphic, violence used for comedy, some language) TW: Drink spiking (with magical potions) Sasha Pierce hasn’t had a single dream since she was a child… ... until she accepts a substitute teaching position in the charmingly witchy village of Old Middleton. Her first dream in twenty-five years ought to be enchanting, but her wonder quickly turns to shock when she realizes that it’s not a dream at all, but an entirely different sort of magic. Catapulted into the fairy tale kingdom of Between through an ancient portal, Sasha’s astonishment is swiftly upgraded to panic when she accidentally performs a supposedly impossible feat and is declared the True Queen of Between … and betrothed to its infuriatingly handsome sorcerer-king. Lorn, Shadow King of Between, is desperate to break free from Between’s clutches. Magically tethered to the ramshackle kingdom, he wages a daily battle to save his disreputable subjects from rampaging magical creatures, sinkholes, and catastrophes of the distressingly lethal variety. To avoid an early grave, he needs an escape plan, not a wife...until he learns that this magicless mortal holds the key to his freedom. Unwilling to leave her world to accept the crown—or the husband—Sasha must race against the clock to disentangle herself from this fairy tale. But her empty throne leaves a dangerous rift between their worlds. As dark forces descend upon Old Middleton, the two must make a choice: work together or unleash fairytale chaos upon their realms. (goodreads.com) I’m going to warn you now, this review might get a little bit fangirl-y. I might geek out about it a little too much and this might turn out to be a very long review. So, don’t say I didn’t warn you. I found this book at one of the libraries that I work at. My thought process at seeing this book went something like this: Oooh, pretty cover. Goodness gracious, this book is hefty! How many pages? Sheesh! 750? Well… what is it about? There is a unicorn on the cover and unicorns are fun. *reads description* Oh dear, I think I might have to read this. Oh dear, but I already have so much I need to read… *proceeds to read it anyway and have a great time* Now, before I get to all of my gushing, I am going to talk about the things I disliked in this book, but I’d rather do it in bullet points so let’s go ahead and get those out of the way:
Okay, that’s enough negative. Onto the gushing! THIS BOOK WAS SO GREAT. OH MY GOODNESS GRACIOUS SAKES ALIVE. It turned out to be a perfect read for this time of year too because it is set in October, right around Halloween. The small town it’s set in feels like an autumnal Hallmark movie with super atmospheric descriptions of leaves changing color, pumpkins, moonlight tours of the town, a cute bookstore, and cafes! This book is like a fall Hallmark movie crossed with a Diana Wynne Jones book, crossed with Hocus Pocus, crossed with Labyrinth, with a garnish of terrible rom-com jokes thrown on top. Also, Sasha works as a kindergarten teacher, so there are opinionated five year olds running around, which is great. Also, also, *slight spoiler*, there’s a coven of fierce old lady witches running around—also great. End slight spoiler. The sense of humor in this book (apart from the sex jokes) was my favorite kind of humor. Things like “oh, this place isn’t so bad” *giant monster flies past window*, or the terrifying Wraith Queen not understanding sarcasm of subtlety, or a mail truck being used as a weapon of self-defense, or the elves being awful poets. I laughed so much throughout reading this and I may have even hugged the book a few times. My cat probably thinks I am deranged. I just remembered something else that you need to know: THIS BOOK IS ALSO ILLUSTRATED. There are not a ton of illustrations, but the few that we get are FAN-FREAKING-TASTIC. The expressions on the characters are perfect and their body language fits them so well. Plus, any magical symbols that are described have a picture to show what they look like, which is really nice for someone like me who is not great at imagining symbols. You’ve probably figured out by now that this review has no real structure to it, so rather than me trying to come up with an awkward transitional phrase to get from my last point to the next, let’s just save time and skip right on to the characters: Sasha was lovely. She is sensible and sweet. She’s not really sure what she’s doing with her life and she’s moved all over the world during her lifetime, taking one teaching job after another. I feel like, in that sense, she is very relatable to people in their mid-twenties to thirties. Obviously, not to everyone, but I felt a connection with not knowing exactly where I want my life to go. Sadly, I am not a world traveler like her, but I do understand moving from one choice to another looking for the right fit. So, I really liked Sasha as a protagonist. Except when she first met the Shadow King at which point I was screaming at her with second-hand embarrassment. Oh my gosh, I nearly had to stop reading because I was so embarrassed for her. Then there is Lyla, Sasha’s best friend. While I found her annoying at times, I also felt somewhat of a connection with Lyla. Especially the part where Sasha has to physically drag her away from a bookstore with cats in it. A BOOKSTORE WITH CATS IN IT MUST BE VISITED FOR SEVERAL HOURS, SASHA, C’MON! LET LYLA HAVE HER BOOKSTORE EXPERIENCE. Then we’ve got the mysterious, handsome, magical, scheming but chivalrous, Shadow King, Lorn. I’m going to say it outright, you can make fun of me all you want: I think I have a crush on Lorn. This is a historic moment everyone, I’ve never actually admitted to having a crush on a fictional character before (no, I did not have a crush on Artemis Fowl when I was twelve, I had a friendly fascination, there’s a difference), but Lorn is just such a wonderful character it’s impossible not to love him so we may as well all admit it now. The man has the best sarcastic sense of humor I’ve ever read in a book, he’s kind to his subjects and friends, but also murderous to his enemies when need be, he’s protective, fierce, but also bashful—not to mention he’s a powerful sorcerer and a wealthy king to boot. And such a good king! He has to put up with a lot of crap, as you find out in the second half of the book (which is told from his perspective), but he still dutifully takes care of everything with flair. The way he speaks reminds me of Obi-Wan Kenobi from the Star Wars Prequels, which is sardonically satisfying. Also, he wears a sentient cloak some of the time and that’s rad. If we ever see him wield a sword in the upcoming sequel I may actually swoon. The supporting characters in this book are probably some of the best I’ve ever read. The coven, the kindergarteners, and my favorite of all, THE JOLLY MONARCHS OF THE LOWER KINGDOMS, whom we meet in chapter nine of part two. Reading that chapter made me feel like I was old friends with the characters and we were all sitting around chatting together. Also, let it be noted that the Wraith Queen is a sweetheart and I would protect her with my life if she wasn’t also terrifying and totally capable of protecting herself. My other favorite side characters were Daisy, Violet, Izzy, Setzel, the imp with the notepad (who doesn’t have a name to my dismay), Maddox, and Mason. I would also like to note right now that I don’t trust Penelope and I have my suspicions about Felicia. We don’t learn a ton about them in the first book, but if one or both turn out to be evil, let the record show that I totally called it. A couple of brief notes about the plot and then I promise I’ll shut up: At times the plot moved a little slowly, but it still kept me reading so that didn’t really bother me. This book is split into two parts, the first is from Sasha’s perspective and the second is from Lorn’s. I knew this going into is, but I thought that time would keep moving forward even after the switched perspective, but it actually jumps back in time to show you what Lorn was up to while Sasha has various Ordeals. When I figured this out I didn’t think I would be as interested in the second half of the book because it would just be rehashing things but I WAS SO WRONG. I loved the second half of the book. The second half is why I now have a crush on Lorn. Okay, this review has gotten wildly out of hand. Let’s wrap this up. Basically, I love this book and will be ordering my own copy as soon as I lift my self-imposed book buying ban (I have a problem). I do wish that the humor in it weren’t quite so adult, but it is a book targeted at adult audiences, so whatcha gonna do? But other than that, I found Between delightful and I am quite anxious to read the sequel when it comes out. Well, the Shadow King has banished me to endlessly wander the swamps of Between because of my ridiculous declaration of adoration for him, so I’d best be off. Thanks for reading! Image source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55820016-between
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Personal Rating: 3.5 Stars Goodreads Rating (as of a week after book’s release): 3.68 Stars Content Rating: R (for disturbing violence) Trigger Warnings: Racism, torture, SO MUCH VIOLENCE, mentions of suicide. As an African tightrope dancer in Victorian London, Iris is used to being strange. She is certainly a strange sight for leering British audiences, always eager for the spectacle of colonial curiosity. But Iris also has a secret that even “strange” doesn’t capture… She cannot die. Haunted by her unnatural power and with no memories of her past, Iris is obsessed with discovering who she is. But that mission gets more complicated when she meets the dark and alluring Adam Temple, a member of a mysterious order called the Enlightenment Committee. Adam seems to know much more about her than he lets on, and he shares with her a terrifying revelation: the world is ending, and the Committee will decide who lives…and who doesn’t. To help them choose a leader for the upcoming apocalypse, the Committee is holding the Tournament of Freaks, a macabre competition made up of vicious fighters with fantastical abilities. Adam wants Iris to be his champion, and in return he promises her the one thing she wants most: the truth about who she really is. If Iris wants to learn about her shadowy past, she has no choice but to fight. But the further she gets in the grisly tournament, the more she begins to remember—and the more she wonders if the truth is something best left forgotten. (goodreads.com) First off, I won an ARC of this in a Goodreads giveaway, so thank you to the publisher and to Goodreads. Secondly, LOOK AT THAT GORGEOUS COVER! Oh my goodness, I love this cover so much. I mean, I adore any cover with a girl with swords on the front (who doesn’t?) but make that girl wearing a fabulous tutu while tightrope walking over a blazing city? That’s pretty darn cool, man. Apart from the lovely cover, the writing of this book really draws you in right away. I had plans to read something else before this book, but I happened to read the first few sentences of the first page and then suddenly it was midnight and I was five chapters in. Because it is such a long book (almost 500 pages) there were points that lulled a bit and the momentum slowed to a point where I would put the book down and not pick it up again for a while, but usually it didn’t take long to get back into the swing of things. This is definitely an action packed book. Some of the action was a little hard to follow at times, leaving me confused as to what just happened, but usually by the end of the chapter things were made clear. Although I ultimately understood what was happening in the book, there were small pieces that seemed to contradict themselves or just weren’t written super clearly and made it difficult to understand what was happening. Again, these things cleared themselves up for the most part, but there are still a few instances that left me confused. One such part was a point where the MC, Iris, was given a ribbon by a friend, but then it seemed like another character exploded that ribbon, but then she had it again in the next chapter. Maybe they were two different ribbons? I’m not sure. One thing I am sure of was how incredibly violent this book was. Goodness gracious. Let me just lay it out for you: there’s a cannibal in this book. And the “mealtimes” are described in vivid detail. Usually books aren’t graphic enough that images linger in my mind, but there is one scene in particular that I’m pretty sure is going to haunt me forever. I’m still cringing thinking about it. I don’t advise eating anything while reading the fight scenes. I don’t care if it’s saltine crackers. The grisly details will upset your stomach even if you aren’t eating and haven’t eaten for hours. I literally shuddered every time this character showed up. There were other aspects of this book that were violent too. The other most upsetting violence was done by a scientist performing inhumane experiments. I won’t say much because of spoilers, but the way this scientist treats other characters, particularly those of color, is pretty much just as horrific as what the cannibal does except he doesn’t eat flesh. If this book doesn’t give me nightmares I’ll be surprised. But enough about the gore. Let’s talk about some positives, eh? I was pleasantly surprised to find that this book hosts a full cast of super-powered characters. If you know me, you know I’m a sucker for superhero-esque plotlines. Especially when there are so many fun powers! You may be asking, what kind of superpowers are in this book (Well, we got everything nowadays. We got a guy who jumps, we got a guy who swings, we got a guy who crawls up the walls. You gotta be more specific.) and the answer to that is pretty much all of the wacky and wonderful ones. You don’t really have your usual super-strength, flight, superspeed things. It’s more like X-men style powers with shapeshifters, portal-makers, and fire breathers. Iris, apart from her undying-ness, was also a tight-rope walker by trade and I wish that had been brought up more in the story. There were a few minor parts where her skills came in handy, but not nearly enough. I would have loved to see her have to walk a tightrope to further the plot, or at least have more references to the circus that was mostly just at the beginning of the book. I also liked how the secrets of the story were revealed. Sometimes it frustrated me that things were being revealed so slowly, but I did like that the reader gets to piece things together themself as they go along. The clues are all there, but you have to put them together. (Speaking of clues, I just briefly want to complain that there was a whole chapter dedicated to this super elaborate riddle based in opera, English history, and Norse Mythology and they barely spent any time going over it! It made me so mad because it was such a complicated riddle that I could only figure out bits and pieces of it with help from Google and the characters only solved, like, two parts of it! I really wanted a full analysis, but alas, it was not to be. Which was honestly probably good for the pacing of the story, but STILL!) There was a bit of romance in this story, and it was fairly triangular (although, there was also another guy who might have made it a sort of square, but there was also another girl who was interested in one of the boys, so kind of a love pentagon thing going on). The “who will she end up with?” thing didn’t really go so well in my opinion because there was really only one serious option, but the romance, along with several major plot points are still not resolved by the end of the book so we’ll have to wait until the sequel to find out if I’m right. I should probably wrap this up before I give too much away. Final notes: I really liked this book even if I was confused about sections sometimes. I thought Iris was an interesting and likeable character and even though I wasn’t fond of him, I thought Adam was intriguing too along with many of the others. If you are into books with high stakes competitions, impending doom, super powers, crazy rich people, and kick-patooty girls and you can stomach the astounding violence, then I definitely recommend that you give The Bones of Ruin a read. I will be eagerly awaiting any news of the sequel. Until next time! Image: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43699470-the-bones-of-ruin Personal Rating: 3.5 Stars Goodreads Rating: 3.64 Stars Content Rating: Light R (for violence) Trigger warnings: Mentions of suicide. In the kingdom of Lovero, nine rival Families of assassins lawfully kill people for a price. As a highly skilled member of one of these powerful clans, seventeen-year-old Lea Saldana has always trusted in the strength of her Family. Until she awakens to find them murdered and her home in flames. The Da Vias, the Saldanas’ biggest enemy, must be responsible—and Lea should have seen it coming. But her secret relationship with the Da Vias’ son, Val, has clouded her otherwise killer instinct—and given the Da Vias more reason than ever to take her Family down. Racked with guilt and shattered over Val’s probable betrayal, Lea sets out to even the score, with her heart set on retaliation and only one thought clear in her mind: make the Da Vias pay. (goodreads.com) This is a book that I picked up without knowing anything about it beforehand, which is something I used to do a lot (before I became a boring old grown up) and have been trying to do more of lately. Thankfully, this book was just the thing I needed to get me out of the reading slump I’ve been in (I blame social media, because, again… boring old grown up over here). There were good things and bad about this book, interesting and boring, but it kept my interest like no other book has for the past while. In the time between reading this book and The Book of Pearl, I picked up and then DNF’d about four books, which is never a good feeling, so I was glad Assassin’s Heart grabbed my attention and refused to let go. Even if the romance was a little forced and annoying. This story is told in first person perspective, which is never my favorite, but was fairly neutral here. I didn’t feel as though it enhanced the story or took much away from it, it was simply a tool that was used. But, if I’m being completely honest, when books have a lot of action like this one does, I typically prefer third person perspective just because it can get annoying to have all of the “I stabbed with my sword” or “I did a super awesome flip” or “I punched that dude so hard his teeth fell out” and the “I did this, I did that, I’m so amazing”, etc. I thought the world building for this book was interesting. It took me a while to figure out what time period had inspired this fictional world, but eventually—because of the fashion and the weaponry—I decided that it is probably inspired by 1400s Italy. This might be partially because the author and the marketing would try to make you believe that this is a Romeo and Juliet story. Or at least a story of forbidden love. And as cool as it would be to have Romeo and Juliet as assassins, that’s no what this book is about really. It is mainly focused on the revenge storyline as well as the theology of the made up gods and ghosts of the world it takes place in. I’m a little disappointed that this was not more about a shady underworld of assassins and criminals, but I was still invested in the revenge aspect of things. Much less so in the pantheon of wacky deities (the main goddess encourages murder and another god has a priest who who wears a top hat and carries a big glowstick) the characters worship, but you get what you get. The main character, Oleander “Lea” Saldana, was pretty cool. She had lots of weapons, poisons, and a hecking lot of angst (though her angst was totally valid, all things considered). I do think I would have found her more likeable if the book hadn’t been in first person POV, but that’s the case with many books I read. It is just hard for me to get attached to first person perspective characters sometimes. I liked the other main character, Alessio, well enough, but I really wish they hadn’t shortened his name to “Les” because it looks awfully similar to “Lea” and that made things kinda confusing for my poor eyes and brain. The plot didn’t go at all in the direction I was expecting, and while sometimes that was disappointing, for the most part I still enjoyed the path it took and I was left satisfied by the ending. There is a sequel/companion novel about a different character, which I am somewhat interested in, but sometimes it’s nice to just read one book and be done with the world it is set in. So, I’m not sure if I will pick up the second one or not, but if I do then I will let you know. Thanks for reading! I’m off to go polish my bone mask. Until next time! Image source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/21421609-assassin-s-heart Personal Rating: 5 Stars Goodreads Rating: 4.02 Content Rating: PG-13 Trigger Warnings: Depictions of war (WWII) and some violence. Joshua Pearl comes from a world that we no longer believe in — a world of fairy tale. He knows that his great love waits for him there, but he is stuck in an unfamiliar time and place — an old-world marshmallow shop in Paris on the eve of World War II. As his memories begin to fade, Joshua seeks out strange objects: tiny fragments of tales that have already been told, trinkets that might possibly help him prove his own story before his love is lost forever. (goodreads.com) This, like Raybearer, was a book for the book club I do with some of my coworkers. We are reading a book from a different country every month and for May we did France. This book was originally written in French and I was a little apprehensive to read it at first as some reviews said that they thought it didn’t make as much sense in English. However, though it was a bit confusing at first due to the alternating points of view and scrambled timeline, it didn’t take long for me to sort things out and get wrapped up in the story. I actually liked this story so much when I finished it that I shelved it next to Inkheart and The Thief Lord (if you know me then you know how high of an honor that is). The Book of Pearl is a wonderful mixture of fairy tale, historical fiction, and contemporary fantasy. There are three different stories going on in this book. The story of a fairy tale inspired land, the story of a young man in World War II, and the story of a different young man with a camera (in more modern times). It takes a little while to sort out who is who, especially if you go into the book fairly blind as I did, but I’d say by the end of Part One everything is pretty clear. If you are looking for a book that delves deep into the characters emotions, this is not that. It is told more like a fairytale than a novel, but I still feel like you get to know all of the important players in it, just not necessarily through their thoughts on the events. Because of the unique way that it is told, I feel that it would make for an excellent movie. For real. If anyone reading this is in the movie industry (ha) and the author agrees, can we, uh, can we get on that, please? I don’t know if it would make a lot of money or not, but I just want it. But not Disney. They’d ruin it (like they did with a certain other book-to-movie adaptation). Thanks. Good talk. If you are someone who likes beautiful writing, fairies, fiction set during World War II, a freaking marshmallow shop, or adventure, then I recommend you give this book a shot. I may or may not have stayed up until 1:30am to finish it because I was so enchanted by it. And I may have hugged it when I was done with it. You know, just normal stuff. Well, I’m off to eat a bag full of marshmallows and pretend they are as fancy as the ones in this book. Thanks for reading! I’ll see you next time! Image source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34877733-the-book-of-pearl Personal Rating: 3.5 stars Goodreads Rating: 3.6 stars Content Rating: Strong PG-13 (for violence and a bit of language) Trigger Warnings: There is a little bit of self-harm. For a hundred years, the once-prosperous kingdom of Perin Faye has suffered under the rule of the greedy and power-hungry Thungrave kings. Maralyth Graylaern, a vintner's daughter, has no idea her hidden magical power is proof of a secret bloodline and claim to the throne. Alac Thungrave, the king’s second son, has always been uncomfortable with his position as the spare heir—and the dark, stolen magic that comes with ruling. When Maralyth becomes embroiled in a plot to murder the royal family and seize the throne, a cat-and-mouse chase ensues in an adventure of dark magic, court intrigue, and forbidden love. (goodreads.com) These days, it is rare that I pick up a book on a whim. When I was a kid I would take home a huge stack of books from the library or bookstore and then devour them within the week. However, in recent years, what with working two jobs and trying to keep up with friends and family in the midst of a global pandemic as well as read all of the books on my TBR, write stories and blog posts, and watch the TV shows or movies that have been recommended to me… I don’t really find myself adding random books from the library shelves to my list of priorities. Not to say that I don’t read anymore, I obviously do, but I find that most of the books I read I have done research on, read other reviews for, or at least had a friend tell me about. This book was a rare flashback to my past. I saw it at work, I thought the cover was pretty, I briefly read over the summary, and I decided I wanted to read it. And I actually read it. Shocking, I know. This book is told through alternating perspectives, which can be hit or miss. Usually, what I find happening with books like this is that I enjoy one character’s perspective more than the others and only want to read what is going on with that character. With this book, however, there were only two perspectives to switch between and they both kept me entertained and on the edge of my seat, so I didn’t feel like I needed to rush through one perspective or the other. Both main characters were fun to keep up with and I did enjoy the romance that begins to bloom between them (though I wish there had been a little bit more development to that romance). Alac—though his name sounds like a Shakespearean exclamation of distress—was a nice change from the typical male protagonists we get in this kind of book. For one thing, he was blond, which is nearly unheard of for a dark, somewhat brooding prince. For another, he was obsessed with wine making, which was awfully convenient considering Maralyth was born and raised in a vineyard. It was also refreshing that he was not at all interested in becoming king… at least at the start. He kind of did one-eighty at one point, at which point he really wanted to be king, but we won’t get into that. He seemed like a nice dude with good intentions and sometimes that’s the kind of guy I like to see in books, instead of the sinister types with a fleck of decency in them. Maralyth was a little boring, I’m not going to lie, but I still enjoyed her chapters. She had magical plant/life powers that she used differently than I might have, but it was still fun. I do wish there had been some sort of rule set for how her magic worked because at first I thought it was just plant-based, but then she also made people and animals fall asleep so I think it must just be life-form based. I would have liked a little clarification though. As much as I liked that this is not part of a series, I do wish that it had been a little longer. I wanted more of the epilogue type stuff, with smiles and happily ever afters. I typically want that from books though. I like to see characters happy because, I don’t know, sentiment or something. But, it was nice to have everything wrapped up in one book rather than an extensive series (not that I don’t love a good series, it’s just hard to keep track of them all). I feel like this book was very similar to The Shadows Between Us by Tricia Levenseller, but with less steamy-ness and a less annoying, less stabby female protagonist. So, if you are interested in magic, political drama, coups, and a dash of romance, then this may be the book for you! Thanks for reading! Until next time! Image source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/53205978-the-stolen-kingdom?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=qU4kd8LMao&rank=1 Personal Rating: 4 Stars Goodreads Rating: 4.44 Stars Content Rating: Strong PG-13 Trigger Warnings: Abuse, rape (nothing graphic), gaslighting Tarisai has always longed for the warmth of a family. She was raised in isolation by a mysterious, often absent mother known only as The Lady. The Lady sends her to the capital of the global empire of Aritsar to compete with other children to be chosen as one of the Crown Prince’s Council of 11. If she’s picked, she’ll be joined with the other Council members through the Ray, a bond deeper than blood. That closeness is irresistible to Tarisai, who has always wanted to belong somewhere. But The Lady has other ideas, including a magical wish that Tarisai is compelled to obey: Kill the Crown Prince once she gains his trust. Tarisai won’t stand by and become someone’s pawn—but is she strong enough to choose a different path for herself? (goodreads.com) This is a book that I read for the book club I’m doing with some of my coworkers, which I hadn’t heard of before this. I’m really glad that my coworker suggested it for our April book because I really enjoyed it and it’s vast world. Plus, look at that cover! You know I’m a sucker for a cover with gold on it. And this one has lots of pretty colors to boot! It is inspired by West-Africa (according to Google) and takes place in a made up world in the empire of Aritsar, which is made up of many different, exciting countries based on real world places. Aritsar is really quite the diverse, and probably humongous, place with countries in it that resemble places in Africa, Europe, and Asia all in one continent. I really liked this idea because it allowed for there to be a diverse cast of characters with different beliefs and appearances. With books like this I always have fun trying to puzzle out which real world countries the made up ones represent as well. With all of these detailed countries with characters and traditions, it was difficult to keep track of the names of everything. After I read the book I realised there was a glossary of terms and a pronunciation guide for the names at the back. If I had known it was back there to start off with I think I would have struggled much less trying to remember everything. So, learn from my mistakes and reference the glossary if you choose to read this! There is a lot to keep track of. There were so many characters in this story, so if you read it check the glossary to help keep track of everyone. Or make a list like my very smart grandmother does when she reads books with tons of characters. Or you could be dumb like me and just keep plowing on and being confused for a few moments until you remember who is who. I really liked Tarisai, the MC, and sympathised with the struggles that she faced. I love to have a protagonist who I can root for and that was definitely the case here. I dearly wanted to see her succeed and I can’t wait to read the sequel (it’s a duology) to see if that happens. With this huge cast of characters I know we couldn’t take time to get to know all of them, but since Tarisai and Prince Dayo are supposed to be as close as siblings with these ten other teenagers, I do kind of wish that we had gotten to get to know at least those ten better. There are two members of their little family who are best friends with Tarisai and so I felt like their backstories were well woven into the story, but not so much the others. Perhaps in book two we’ll get to see more of them. I want to learn what all of their Hallows (super powers) are! One thing I really, really liked about this book is something that probably seems small, but it seriously made this book stand out to me. The characters are honest with each other. At least for the most part. And when they do lie or withhold information from the other characters, it is usually for an excellent reason and not to create unnecessary drama. I absolutely hate it in books when the main character has something huge and terrifying going on, but refuses to tell anyone because “oh, it’s not their burden to bear” or “I couldn’t possibly say anything to them because even though they are the person I trust most in the whole world, they’ll probably hate me if I tell them” (to be fair, that does happen in books quite a lot), or “it might put them in danger”, or “nah bro, I just like keeping secrets because it creates tension and drama when people eventually figure it out because of a bad guy telling them or because I slip up”. It was SO REFRESHING to have Tarisai tell people the truth and ask for their help. I am so excited to read the sequel to this book and I am fuming that I have to wait until August before it is available. Do you know how short my memory is?! I won’t forget the main points of the plot by then, but I will inevitably be confused. Fingers crossed that the second book also has a glossary. Also! How can you expect me to wait four months with the first book ending the way it did?! Unacceptable. As you have probably inferred, I really liked Raybearer and I definitely recommend it to anyone who likes to get lost in a new fantasy world. Now if you’ll excuse me, I am off to wander in the wilderness and see if I can find some hopefully friendly tutsu. Until next time! Image source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/50158128-raybearer Personal Rating: 3.5 Stars Goodreads Rating: 3.61 Stars Content Rating: Strong PG-13 (for violence) King Midas once had the ability to turn all he touched into gold. But after his gift—or curse—almost killed his daughter, Midas relinquished The Touch forever. Ten years later, Princess Kora still bears the consequences of her father’s wish: her skin shines golden, rumors follow her everywhere she goes, and she harbors secret powers that are getting harder to hide. Kora spends her days locked in the palace, concealed behind gloves and veils, trying to ignore the stares and gossip of courtiers. It isn’t until a charming young duke arrives that Kora realizes there may be someone out there who doesn’t fear her or her curse. But their courtship is disrupted when a thief steals precious items from the kingdom, leaving the treasury depleted and King Midas vulnerable. Thanks to her unique ability to sense gold, Kora is the only one who can track the thief down. As she sails off on her quest, Kora learns that not everything is what it seems—not thieves, not pirates, and not even curses. She quickly discovers that gold—and the power it brings—is more dangerous than she’d ever believed. (goodreads.com) Now, I know that the description of this book mentions pirates. It was probably one of the things that first caught my eye. But the point when I discovered this book was quite a long time ago, compared to when I finished it two days ago. So I was honestly shocked by the amount of pirates in this book. Not that I’m complaining. I love a good pirate story even when I’m not expecting it! I was thinking more of the story would be about Kora in the palace before she sets out on adventure to find the missing gold, but that was not the case at all. She was in the palace for a little while, but a couple of chapters in the gold is stolen and the quest is on. Kora and a charming duke are off on a ship with a crew full of superstitious sailors, trying to track down magical gold stolen by pirates. Now, you may have guessed this from some of my other reviews, but as a reader I prefer to read for the characters. I can endure a boring plot as long as I like the characters acting it out. Usually, in books, I am not as worried about plot as I am about the characters. When I watch movies it can go either way, but with books I prefer character driven. So it is always disappointing to me when the characters feel flat and unrelatable, even if they are going on exciting adventures. Unfortunately, I wasn’t too attached to any of the characters in A Touch of Gold. Part of the problem may have been that it was first person, present tense narration which is always a little difficult for me to connect with and it definitely makes it more difficult for me to get a picture of the MC in my head since we are seeing everything from their perspective. Plus, Kora was sort of annoying and rather “woe is me” for the majority of the book, even as she is doing kick-patooty things. She and the other characters bored me. However, this was actually not a problem as it might have been with other books. I think the difference this time was that A Touch of Gold had a very cinematic quality to it. It felt like a fun adventure movie with crazy scenarios and daring dos. There were different challenges that they had to overcome and special objects that they had to find. I saw another review that said this book kind of reminded the reader of the Indiana Jones movies and I’d have to agree. It also somewhat reminded me of The Princess Bride. Unlike The Princess Bride, however, the romance in this story is kind of horrendous. I can’t say too much without spoilers, but the romance is just… not worth the words spent on it. I think I might have even liked the book better if there hadn’t been romance. Or at least, if when the first part of the romance ends, the second part doesn’t fully start up until the second book. It was just sort of unrealistic how Kora jumps from one romance to the next without a second thought. But, back on topic: I was still invested in the plot. This book felt like such an easy read to get into. It doesn’t take long for it to drop you into the action and because it feels like a quick read, it makes it easy to gobble up one chapter after another until you reach the end. Speaking of the ending, I felt like there was so much left unresolved! Which, in this case, might actually be good because there is a sequel. I’m hoping for less self-pity from Kora and more development for her, Hettie, and the others. More sword fighting would also be fun. If I do get a chance to read the second book, A Curse of Gold, I will do my best to let you know what I think of it. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to rob some mermaids! Thanks for reading! Image source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36575823-a-touch-of-gold Personal Rating: 4 Stars Goodreads Rating: 3.64 Content Rating: PG-13 Everyone knows what happens in the end. A mermaid, a prince, a true love’s kiss. But before that young siren’s tale, there were three friends. One feared, one royal, and one already dead. Ever since her best friend, Anna, drowned, Evie has been an outcast in her small fishing town. A freak. A curse. A witch. A girl with an uncanny resemblance to Anna appears offshore and, though the girl denies it, Evie is convinced that her best friend actually survived. That her own magic wasn’t so powerless after all. And, as the two girls catch the eyes—and hearts—of two charming princes, Evie believes that she might finally have a chance at her own happily ever after. But her new friend has secrets of her own. She can’t stay in Havnestad, or on two legs, unless Evie finds a way to help her. Now Evie will do anything to save her friend’s humanity, along with her prince’s heart—harnessing the power of her magic, her ocean, and her love until she discovers, too late, the truth of her bargain. (goodreads.com) My last read for the Hocus Pocus Read-a-thon, this one for a prompt to read a book featuring powerful witches. I’m not usually one who likes to read books that are just about witches, but a fairy tale retelling about ocean magic and mermaids is right up my alley. And a villain origin story always promises to be fun and heartbreaking! Also, that cover is amazing and I couldn’t say no to it. I feel like, while I read many, many fairy tale retellings, I don’t often read novel length Little Mermaid retellings. There have been a couple of short stories over the years, but I can’t remember any novels that I’ve read, though I know there are many out there. Are there others that you know that you would recommend? I loved reading Sea Witch. The beginning sucked me in quickly and didn’t let go. Unfortunately, most of the time when I was reading this, it was night time, which meant I stayed up past my bedtime more often than I should have. Oh well, I wear the bags under my eyes proudly. It was definitely worth it to stay up and read this book. It was less dark-origin-story-y than I thought it was going to be, honestly. I feel like, usually, with villain origins I end up sad at the end of the story. I don’t want to spoil anything, but I wasn’t that sad when everything wrapped up in Sea Witch. Maybe it’s because the witch in The Little Mermaid has never seemed that bad to me. Like, sure, in the Disney movie Ursula did try to take over the ocean and kill the main characters, but she stuck to the rules of her contract and it is thanks to her that Ariel even got to be with Eric anyway. And in the original story the sea witch isn’t even a villain, just tells the mermaid exactly what to expect and gives her all of the warnings, doesn’t interfere at all, and even tries to help her become a mermaid again for the low low price of her sisters’ hair (oh, and one measly murder). I guess that’s probably why this book didn’t feel as sad as other villain stories. Most of the time the villain starts out as a good guy, goes bad, does horrible things, betrays their former friends/family, and then probably gets killed, etc. But the sea witch from The Little Mermaid is honestly a pretty neutral character unless we’re talking about the Disney version. I’m trying really hard not to spoil anything, but I did want to mention that it didn’t leave me as melancholy as other villain origin stories leave me and I liked that about it. Some books *glares at Heartless by Marissa Meyer* should take notes. As far as characters go, I’ve read some reviews that said that they thought the characters were flat and that the male characters were interchangeable. To that I say PUH-SHAW. Iker and Nik were definitely not interchangeable and I’ll fight anyone who says that they are. I definitely have a favorite of the boys, but I won’t tell you which. I will admit that the characters didn’t really go through a ton of growth, but I thought Evie, the narrator, was fine the way she was and she grew in the ways she needed to.
All of that being said, I did feel like the ending was sort of anti-climactic. I’m not sure what exactly about it let me down, and it wasn’t bad, it just fell a little flat. Of course… there is a sequel… which I may or may not have already ordered from Book Outlet… along with another book even though I’m on a book-buying-ban until I get moved into my new space. (Sssshhhh don’t tell my wallet or my moving boxes.) But I had to buy it because I need to know what happens to Evie next, okay? I really liked her character and I want more of her story. Image sources:
Cover: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36502054-sea-witch GIFS from giphy.com Personal Rating: 3 Stars Goodreads Rating: 3.97 Stars Content Rating: Strong PG-13 (for violence and suggestive content) Alessandra is tired of being overlooked, but she has a plan to gain power: 1) Woo the Shadow King. 2) Marry him. 3) Kill him and take his kingdom for herself. No one knows the extent of the freshly crowned Shadow King’s power. Some say he can command the shadows that swirl around him to do his bidding. Others say they speak to him, whispering the thoughts of his enemies. Regardless, Alessandra knows what she deserves, and she’s going to do everything within her power to get it. But Alessandra’s not the only one trying to kill the king. As attempts on his life are made, she finds herself trying to keep him alive long enough for him to make her his queen—all while struggling not to lose her heart. After all, who better for a Shadow King than a cunning, villainous queen? (goodreads.com) This one is another read for the Hocus Pocus read-a-thon I am doing this October. It fills a prompt for reading a book about an evil character. Admittedly, Alessandra and the Shadow King are a bit more like anti-heroes than truly evil characters, but between the two of them they do quite a lot of killing and scheming, so we’ll count it. I started off really enjoying this book. It’s quite refreshing to read about a teenage girl who is confident, collected, and has a plan for her life. Even if that plan involves killing the king and taking over the empire. But you know, at least she isn’t spending the whole book debating about which college to go to (not that there's anything wrong with books about girls deciding where they want to go to college, it’s just not my jam these days) or which boy she loves or if she should join the rebellion against the corrupt government. Alessandra is not a good person with a noble cause, she’s a morally gray (dark gray) person with a selfish cause. And that was kind of nice to read about for a change. The book wasn’t what I was expecting. I was anticipating more fantasy elements to it, but the kingdom in this is really more like 1800’s Britain with a magical teenage king. There really isn’t any magic in it, save for the king’s shadows, which disappointed me a bit. The world the story takes place in reminds me of the world in The Betrothed by Kiera Cass. Very posh, kind of a snooty world of nobles, a young king, lots of focus on clothing, and most of the discussion amongst the cast of characters is about marriage arrangements and monetarily beneficial matrimony. Actually, it reminded me a lot of The Betrothed, but with more vicious characters. Even though the story wasn’t what I was expecting, it had me hooked and I didn’t want to put the book down most of the time. I probably would have given it four stars or so, but it was rather too steamy for my tastes. I don’t mind romance, but once they start taking off clothes I start skimming to the next part of the story. So, for my personal rating I had to take off a star. I didn’t even feel that bad about taking the star off after I read page 301 because I was somewhat appalled by the double standard that the characters set. Alessandra was talking with her gal pals about romantic interests and stuff like that. Then she asked Friend 1 if she’d slept with the man she was interested in yet. Friend 1 replied that she wanted to wait until they were married and Alessandra and Friend 2 applauded this even though it wasn’t what they would have chosen. Then they asked if the beau of Friend 1 was pressuring her into sleeping with him, ready to take up arms and beat up the dude if he was (which was great, yay). Friend 1 replied that no, he wasn’t pressuring her at all and then they switched the subject to Friend 2 and her boyfriend and if they’d slept together yet. Friend 2 replied wistfully that no, her boyfriend wanted to wait until they were married too, but then Alessandra and Friend 1 didn’t say something like “oh okay, that’s his choice, if that’s not what you want then maybe you should find someone who wants the same thing you want”. No, no, they didn’t say that it was okay like they had said for Friend 1, they started talking about ways that Friend 2 could pressure her boyfriend into sleeping with her before they got married. And, like, I don’t know if that was some sort of social commentary, trying to flip the gender rolls or what, but I did not like it. And sure, they said that he was probably just waiting for marriage because he wanted to make sure that Friend 2 wouldn’t regret being with him or whatever, but we didn’t hear him say that. I don’t mean to go on a rant about one page in the book, but geesh, page 301 kinda made me dislike all three main girl characters and their double standards. Okay, that rant over with, let’s talk about the Shadow King. He was not as villainous as I was hoping. He was actually a pretty sweet guy with the occasional violent outburst. He also was not as mysterious as I thought he was going to be, but that may be because I was expecting him to be like the Darkling from Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo. Cuz shadows and darkness and all that. But he was more like Mr. Darcy than Mr. Darkling, but if Mr. Darcy was okay with stabbing people when they don’t do their jobs. I actually imagined the Shadow King with the voice of Mr. Darcy from the 2005 Pride and Prejudice movie for most of the book. I did really enjoy most of this book and I liked most of the characters most of the time, it just wasn’t what I was expecting. The whole thing was much less dark and mysterious than I thought it would be, but it turned out pretty great anyway. Another nice thing about it, though, is that it was a stand alone, which is rare with fantasy stories (even though there wasn’t a ton of fantasy in this one). However, if a sequel were ever written I would probably read it. Okie dokie, that’s the end of this review. I’d better go woo a king so I can murder him and take over a kingdom. Ta-ta for now! Image source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35702241-the-shadows-between-us?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=w4581jmHIj&rank=1 Personal Rating: 4 Stars Goodreads Rating: 3.78 Stars Content Rating: Light R (for language, violence, and suggestive content) Trigger Warnings: Domestic Abuse, Mental Health The Torres sisters dream of escape. Escape from their needy and despotic widowed father, and from their San Antonio neighborhood, full of old San Antonio families and all the traditions and expectations that go along with them. In the summer after her senior year of high school, Ana, the oldest sister, falls to her death from her bedroom window. A year later, her three younger sisters, Jessica, Iridian, and Rosa, are still consumed by grief and haunted by their sister’s memory. Their dream of leaving Southtown now seems out of reach. But then strange things start happening around the house: mysterious laughter, mysterious shadows, mysterious writing on the walls. The sisters begin to wonder if Ana really is haunting them, trying to send them a message—and what exactly she’s trying to say. (goodreads.com) Originally, I picked up this book because I wanted to read a book by a Latino or Hispanic author for National Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15th through October 15th). I found this one listed on one of my local libraries websites and thought it sounded like a good spooky season read also, since there is a ghostly element to it. And then my wonderful coworkers/friends *waves to wonderful coworkers/friends* alerted me to a Hocus Pocus themed read-a-thon going on in October. The read-a-thon, based around the 1993 movie, involves three teams (Sanderson Sisters, Undead, and Trick-or-Treaters) and different prompts for each team. I am on team Sanderson Sisters and one of the reading prompts for this team is to read a book about sisters. So, Tigers, Not Daughters is killing three reading goals with one stone and it turned out to be an excellent book to boot! Though it features an angry ghost, I wouldn’t exactly call this book a horror story. Paranormal maybe, but not really horrifying. So, if you are looking for a book to scare you, then this might not be the one for you. Honestly, the ghost wasn’t in it as much as I thought she would be. This was really more of a family drama kind of story. Which was a little disappointing since I was sort of looking for a good scare, but also a bit of a relief since I can’t actually handle scary stuff very well. I would describe this book as Little Women, but with more swears, more sexual references, lots more violence, and with more hateable male characters. Speaking of the male characters… there seemed to be a running theme of the men in this story being unhelpful, which is actually kind of interesting. Now, I’ve been out of high school for a few years now and haven’t really intensely analyzed any literature since then, but every once in a while I’ll come across a book that I wish I could have read while in a literature class so that we could get into the nitty gritty details and the literary devices and such. This was a book like that for me. I want to talk to someone about the continuing theme of unhelpful men. Even the nice boy character wasn’t much help. Throughout the story you see instances of the sisters turning to these men and boys for help or the boys/men trying to help unsolicited and when they get involved things almost always get worse or, at least, they don’t get any better. I loved going from being annoyed with the boy characters because of their tendency to make things go south (even when they meant well) to cheering for the girls when they do things on their own. I was also interested in the motif of laughter. (I’m eighty percent sure I used the word “motif” correctly, but like I said, it’s been a long while since high school so bear with me.) I mean, there was even a freaking hyena that showed up throughout the story. Sometimes when spookish happenings were about to occur the sisters could hear the ghost’s laughter. There was one point where two characters got into a fight and one of the sisters couldn’t stop laughing even though it wasn’t funny. There was a point when something horrible and embarrassing happened to another sister at school and everyone, including some unhelpful boys, laughed even though some of them felt bad for her. I no longer possess the skills to pick apart what that could mean, and I’m glad I don’t have to write a paper about it, but I found it really interesting. Okay, that’s enough analytical mumbo-jumbo from me. Let’s rate some characters! Ana - unattainable, much spook, doin’ a protecc. Jessica - The second oldest Torres sister, just working her crummy part time job, making most of the money for their family, keeping things afloat after the tragedy in their family. Makes a lot of bad decisions when it comes to men and sometimes I just wanted to shake her, but she was amazing nonetheless. Iridian - I started out liking her the best because she’s a writer, but as the story went on I kind of disconnected from her a bit. I still liked her character and how multi-dimensional she was, but it became more and more difficult for me to read the chapters from her perspective. Rosa - A saint. A warrior. A detective. Picked pretty much the only helpful boy in the story to hold her hand. The youngest, and possibly wisest sister. 1,000,000 out of 10. Rafe - I feel kind of bad for him… but like not a lot. He’s pretty much the worst. Also, I feel like the only reason I feel bad for him is because of his intense grief, but he also uses that grief to manipulate people so… like, I don’t actually feel bad for him at all. I won’t give away spoilers, but I’m not sure I liked how the book ended for him. Also, what the heck was up with that bracelet? I feel like that was important. John - Poop. Negative 1,000,000 out of 10. I also wish we’d gotten to see more of what happened to him because I’m curious. Peter - A nice boy. Kinda dumb. Unhelpful, but sweet. He’s trying anyway. Bit of a creep at times, but way better than John. Peter’s friends - Also very unhelpful, also creepy, don’t have a ton of redemptive qualities, but they weren’t the worst. Fairly neutral, actually. If this were a Greek play I’d say that these boys were the chorus. They’re typically present for the happenings of the story, but apart from their Mega-Unhelpfulness at the beginning, they don’t sway the plot all that much. That one priest guy - Not helpful. What was with the ants? Supposedly got in a fight with Rafe at some point?? Would have liked to see that. Alright, you’ve probably had enough of my random ramblings about these characters and literary devices that I sort of remember so I’ll wrap this review up now. Basically, what you need to know is that this was an excellent book with some mature themes and the plot and characters have much more to offer than a surface level scary story. It is probably one of my favorite ghost books I’ve ever read and it didn’t leave me with that aching heart feeling that other ghost books tend to leave me with. Okay. I’m pretty sure that’s all you need to know. Thank you for reading, I hope you had a good time and if you’re interested in this book I hope you check it out! I’d better get going because it would seem there is a hyena in my yard. Toodles! Image source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52776262-tigers-not-daughters |
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