Personal Rating: 3 Stars Goodreads rating at time of review: 3.77 stars Content Rating: R for violence, drugs, alcohol and sexual content Trigger Warnings: Forced marriage, animal death, drug use/addiction, kidnapping. The elves come for two things: war and wives. In both cases, they come for death. Three-thousand years ago, humans were hunted by powerful races with wild magic until the treaty was formed. Now, for centuries, the elves have taken a young woman from Luella's village to be their Human Queen. To be chosen is seen as a mark of death by the townsfolk. A mark nineteen-year-old Luella is grateful to have escaped as a girl. Instead, she's dedicated her life to studying herbology and becoming the town's only healer. That is, until the Elf King unexpectedly arrives... for her. Everything Luella had thought she'd known about her life, and herself, was a lie. Taken to a land filled with wild magic, Luella is forced to be the new queen to a cold yet blisteringly handsome Elf King. Once there, she learns about a dying world that only she can save. The magical land of Midscape pulls on one corner of her heart, her home and people tug on another... but what will truly break her is a passion she never wanted. (goodreads.com) You might be looking at the cover of this book and raising a judgemental eyebrow in my direction. Particularly if you’ve read my reviews before and you know I don’t like sexual content in my books. And yes, that cover does look rather suggestive, but in my defense, lots of people were saying this book has very little “spice” in it and that it is a YA book. Having now read it, I can safely say that if this is mild on the spicy scale then I should probably stay far, far away from anything people consider steamier than this. One thing that I will say is that, the majorly amorous parts of this book were at least contained to Chapter 31 for the most part (and a few scenes after that weren’t quite as spicy, but still out of my comfort zone) with nothing important to the plot tied up in the descriptions as far as I could tell. So you could just skip Chapter 31 and skim the other parts if you wanted to and not miss any necessary information. Which I appreciate! There’s nothing that annoys me quite like there being a sex scene in a book that also includes vital information for the rest of the plot. If there has to be sex in a book, I prefer it to be possible to opt out of reading it without losing the thread of the part of the story I actually care about. Now that we have that discussion out of the way, let’s talk about the rest of the book, shall we? Overall, I liked it fairly well. The characters were, for the most part, likable, and the plot was intriguing enough to keep me reading through the bits that weren’t for me. The writing style was sort of strange (we’ll get into that in a minute), but easily overlooked. The world building could have been better, but for a book that’s main focus was a love story, I think it achieved its purpose. As I said, the writing was a little odd. There were some words that didn’t seem to fit into the flow of medieval-inspired fantasy land, like “yeah” and “heck” (I really did find it hilarious to read someone in an adult book say “what the heck” though and it definitely gave me the confidence to do the same with my own writing). It also seemed to go back and forth between more formal writing and super casual, which was jarring at some points, but didn’t hinder my enjoyment. There were also a few instances in which the sentence structure seemed a tad off (though who am I to call someone out for that) and I would take a moment mentally rearranging the words to correct it. Again, this didn’t really top me from easily reading the book, it just snagged my attention from time to time. I would like to take a brief moment to applaud the author for using the terms “Your Majesty” and “Your Highness” correctly. Goodness gracious, it was incredibly refreshing to have the king and queen be referred to as “majesty” and the prince as “highness”. Some writers use them interchangeably and it drives me crazy. Let’s talk about characters. Luella, the MC of the story, was actually pretty fun. I liked her more than I thought I would. She was interesting, with her own goals and abilities. She was also, for the most part, smart and reasonable. Plus, she was an herbalist healer and I can’t recall any other main characters that I’ve read with that profession. King Eldas, the titular Elf King, was almost exactly how I expected him to be. He was protective, foreboding, and grudging but with a soft side for Luella. However, I can’t help but find it funny when the reader finds out that he has basically been secluded in a castle his whole life. Generally, when I come across a dark, fierce, brooding love interest, he’s got some life experience under his belt. He’s been to places, done things, acquired scars both mentally and physically. You may never know how many people a Dark Brooding Boy ™ may have killed or maimed because his past is complicated. Eldas’ first time really leaving the castle, it is revealed, is when he goes to pick up Luella at the beginning of the book. This means, since she’s been to an academy, Luella has probably traveled more places than Eldas. She’s probably done more things, met more people, experienced life more. And one of the reasons I find this funny (morbidly funny) is because Eldas, when we first meet him, really wants to use his magic to tear this one guy limb from limb. And then, toward the middle of the book, but still nearer to the beginning, he actually does dismember a dude. And since he’s rarely left the castle up to this point, all I can imagine is that he has never killed anyone before (I can’t remember if he says otherwise in the book or not), but he knows the kind of guy he’s trying to be would definitely kill people. It’s like he’s so committed to his aesthetic that he just dearly wants to murder people to live up to it. We don’t get to read any of his inner dialogue but my headcanon is that it went something like this after he ripped apart a dude: Yes! Finally! Oh my gosh… that’s a lot of blood. I might be sick. No! No Eldas, stand majestically. Hold Luella. She is so impressed with me right now I bet. I just saved her from this guy and then dramatically punished him for his crime. And I managed to say something awesome! Heck yeah, this is fantastic. Okay, okay, I’m just goofing off now. Back to the review.
The side characters were nice. I liked that Luella had friends in the castle and that she spent time with people other than Eldas. I won’t say much because of spoilers, but I liked how things turned out with Prince Harrow too, it wasn’t what I was expecting, but it was certainly refreshing as far as plots involving wild, wicked brothers go. Before I wrap this up, here are a few other bullet points of my thoughts on the book:
While this book and its spice were not a great fit for me, I can totally see how someone looking for a steamy romantic fantasy would enjoy A Deal with the Elf King. I don’t see myself ever picking up the sequels to this book, mostly because they aren’t really sequels, just stand alones in the same universe, but also because I haven’t come across many positive reviews. I’m undecided about whether or not I’ll try anything else by Elise Kova. Originally, I thought I would give her Air Awakens series a go, but now I’m not sure. I’m sure I’ll let you know if I do decide to try it. Thanks for reading this review! If you’ll excuse me, I’m off to mix up a whole bunch of plants into a super elixir that will heal pretty much any wound ever. Until next time! Image source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55285911-a-deal-with-the-elf-king?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=mp7CvaB8B5&rank=1
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Personal Rating: 3.5 Stars Goodreads rating at time of review: 3.89 stars Content Rating: Strong PG-13 for violence and death. Trigger Warnings: Rape is alluded to and threatened, animal abuse, child death, abusive father. In the mythical desert kingdom of Achra, an ancient law forces sixteen-year-old Princess Kateri to fight in the arena to prove her right to rule. For Kateri, winning also means fulfilling a promise to her late mother that she would protect her people, who are struggling through windstorms and drought. The situation is worsened by the gang of Desert Boys that frequently raids the city wells, forcing the king to ration what little water is left. The punishment for stealing water is a choice between two doors: behind one lies freedom, and behind the other is a tiger. But when Kateri’s final opponent is announced, she knows she cannot win. In desperation, she turns to the desert and the one person she never thought she’d side with. What Kateri discovers twists her world—and her heart—upside down. Her future is now behind two doors—only she’s not sure which holds the key to keeping her kingdom and which releases the tiger.(goodreads.com) When I first read the description of this book I thought it sounded awesome. A princess who has to fight her suitors in a gladiator style arena in order to prove her worthiness of the throne? That’s a fantastic concept! It’s like taking the Bachelor/Bachelorette-trope, where a bunch of eligible individuals are competing for the prince/princess’ hand in marriage, and changing it so they don’t have to compete against each other, they have to compete against the princess herself. Which sounds amazing, right? Sadly, that part of the story does not get much coverage so if that’s what you’re looking for, this book doesn’t really provide. However, it was still a fairly enjoyable read! Apparently, this book is a retelling of a short story called The Lady, or the Tiger? by Frank R. Stockton which was originally published in 1882. I had never heard of this story before and I didn’t feel particularly inclined to read the entirety of it, but I did read a summary. Basically, there is a desert kingdom and the justice system is this: when you commit a crime, you are put in an arena and given the choice of two doors. One of them has a hungry tiger behind it and the other has a woman who you have to marry if you pick her door. As the story goes, there is a young man whom the princess of the kingdom falls in love with but he ends up in the arena one way or another. If it were a modern fairy tale, you might be inclined to think the princess would put herself behind one of the doors and they’d live happily ever after. But this is a fairytale from the 1800s. So, what happens is that the princess finds out who the woman behind the door is going to be and which door she’s going to be behind. Turns out, the woman who might end up married to the princess’ boyfriend is a woman that the princess hates. So the question that the reader is left with at the end of the story is if the princess tells her boyfriend to open the door with the hated woman or the tiger. Basically, would the princess rather have her man married to a woman she dislikes or eaten by a wild animal? And honestly, this book didn’t really deliver all that much on the retelling end of things either. Although, I guess since there isn’t really that much to retell to begin with, that’s not surprising. There were tigers (who are very much mistreated) and there was a part where someone that Princess Kateri cares about has to choose between tigers and a woman. However, the princess doesn’t really hate the woman, she just kind of distrusts her. Also the whole moral dilemma of the princess being forced to choose loses its impact on the story because there’s a man manipulating her choices behind the scenes. Despite all of this, it was still an interesting read. I was caught up in the plot and excited to see where the story would go with each chapter. The events of the story were compelling and kept my attention. How would everyone survive the drought? Who’s at fault, the king or the Desert Boys? Will Kateri be able to learn enough skills to defeat her final suitor? It was well written and I wanted to know what would happen next. However, I was not at all connected to the characters. You may recall I had this same issue with Annie Sullivan’s other book, A Touch of Gold. Great, exciting, fascinating plot… dull, flat characters that are difficult to relate to or care about. Take Princess Kateri for example. At the beginning of the book she is kind of awful and she’s supposed to be. She has been raised with a hateful lie about the people in her kingdom and since she believes that lie and fights for that lie, it makes her unlikable. She definitely changed her tune by the end of the book, but I kind of got the impression that, if there wasn’t concrete proof of the truth, she would have stubbornly clung to what she’d been told her whole life. It didn’t really feel like she developed as a character, it felt like she learned more facts and acted logically with the new information. By the end, it felt like she was exactly the same as she was at the beginning of the book, but with more friends and she knew the truth of her situation. The other characters had pretty much no development at all. The good guys stayed good and noble, the bad guys stayed bad and conniving. No one changed, we just learned more information about them from Kateri’s viewpoint. One more random gripe at the end here, just because I want to say it: I’m not sure the author has ever spent much time around sand. There is a point where the characters get into a “sand fight” and throw sand at each other. Have you ever tried to throw sand at someone? It just goes POOF and spreads little grains everywhere. Unless it’s wet sand (in which case it goes SPLOP rather than POOF), but they definitely weren’t wasting water in the middle of a desert drought to throw sand at each other. Also, WHY THE HECK WOULD YOU THROW SAND AT EACH OTHER WHEN YOU ARE IN THE MIDDLE OF A DROUGHT AND HAVE TO CONSERVE WATER AND ARE CONSTANTLY DEHYDRATED?! Sand is so dry and itchy and dirty. It’s coarse and rough and irritating, and it gets everywhere! It would make you so thirsty to be out in the sun and sand and then it would also make you want to take a bath. Nope. Terrible idea to play in the sand when you are in a drought, it really is foolish. Because of the lack of character development in Annie Sullivan’s stories, I don’t think I will be reading anything of hers again (but never say never). Despite the fun plots, I just get so bored with her characters. They are difficult to relate to and they just feel so flat and one dimensional.
Still, this was a good read and if you care more for the action and plot and don’t really care about characters. I know there are people out there who prefer plot-driven to character-driven, I’m just not one of them. But if you are, then totally check out this book! Well, I’m off to go battle my many, many suitors in an arena so that I can prove myself to be worthy of the throne. Until next time! Image source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/42281646-tiger-queen 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: 3.77 Content Rating: PG-13 (for violence and a creepy dude) Possible trigger warnings: Rape (nothing actually happens, but the situation is set up). England, 1381: Delia's idyllic life as daughter of an earl is shattered when her father dies and his wife accuses Delia's seven brothers of treason and murder. The youngest is only ten years old, but this doesn't stop the guards from hauling them off to the Tower of London. There they await a grim fate, as child-king Richard II is executing anyone who poses a threat to his throne. Delia is their only hope for pardon and freedom. Sir Geoffrey did not expect his first assignment as captain of the guard to be the arrest of boys so young. He dutifully imprisons the brothers, but he can't ignore the sense, rooted in personal experience, that injustice and treachery are at work. Determined to rescue her brothers, Delia secures a position as a seamstress for the queen. Her quest is all but impossible as the executions continue. Sir Geoffrey offers to be her ally, but should she trust him in a court where everyone has an agenda? (goodreads.com) I won this book in a Goodreads giveaway, so thank you to anyone who made that giveaway possible! As usual, I want to start things off by complimenting whoever was in charge of the cover design. I absolutely love the color palette and, of course, the poofy dress. I’m fairly certain that the dress is not historically accurate—or at least not for the situation that Delia found herself in—but it is a lovely dress nonetheless. I was hesitant to start this book, honestly. While I have read books by Melanie Dickerson before and enjoyed parts of them, as a whole they usually aren’t my jam. Her plots are exciting, but her characters are always kind of bland. The protagonists in each of her books are almost indistinguishable from each other and, though they are nice and pleasant people, they make for very boring book characters. I will say that, though I enjoyed this book about ten times more than I enjoyed my last Melanie Dickerson book, the characters were still pretty blah. Delia was kind and sweet and good and Sir Geoffry was noble and honorable and protective. Which could be said of most of the other lead characters in Melanie Dickerson’s other books. Maybe Sir Geoffry wasn’t as moody as the Margrave of Thornbeck (whose name I cannot remember for the life of me) from The Beautiful Pretender, but that’s about where the differences end as far as personality goes. One thing I did like about Delia, or at least relate to, was that she was struggling to trust God with the lives of her brothers. Typically, I feel, Dickerson’s characters do not have this worry. Delia wasn’t always sure that things were going to be okay, she worried that her brothers would be executed and she struggled with trusting that God had a plan for her if her brothers did die. I could relate to that worry and fear and even the distrust at times. It was nice to have something to relate to with the MC in this book, even if she was otherwise sort of boring. Because of Delia’s fear for her brothers and the discussion over if God would save them from execution or not, the book held more suspense for me. Would all of her brothers actually survive? If they didn’t, what would happen to Delia? If they do survive, how would they escape their impending doom? I liked this suspense, though I was a little disappointed with the ending. I won’t say more on that, because of spoilers, but I was sort of hoping for more excitement. The core message of the book, about trusting God, didn’t really wrap up the way I wanted it to either. I don’t think there was any event in the story to really make the points stick. But I will say that the particular message it was trying to convey is what made the book for me and made me stick around to see what happens. So it does have that going for it. To wrap up, I found this book to be more interesting than any of the other Melanie Dickerson books I’ve read, but I am still not a fan of how she writes her characters and if her characters are going to continue to be as flat as they are then I think there need to be some twists in the plot to keep the readers interest. I loved the coziness of knitting and sewing in this book, but since the characters personalities aren't adding anything interesting, I’d really like to see something unexpected happen. Of course, as always, those are just my thoughts on the book and as a whole, I did really enjoy reading this, I just wish the ending had been more satisfying. Well, I’m off to knit seven sweaters! TTFN! Image source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52509575-court-of-swans 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: 4 Stars Goodreads Rating (pre-release): 4.41 Stars Content Rating: Light R (for language) Trigger Warnings: Abusive parents, suicide is discussed and one of the character has panic attacks frequently. Jubilee has it all together. She’s an elite cellist, and when she’s not working in her stepmom’s indie comic shop, she’s prepping for the biggest audition of her life. Ridley is barely holding it together. His parents own the biggest comic-store chain in the country, and Ridley can’t stop disappointing them—that is, when they’re even paying attention. They meet one fateful night at a comic convention prom, and the two can’t help falling for each other. Too bad their parents are at each other’s throats every chance they get, making a relationship between them nearly impossible…unless they manage to keep it a secret. Then again, the feud between their families may be the least of their problems. As Ridley’s anxiety spirals, Jubilee tries to help but finds her focus torn between her fast-approaching audition and their intensifying relationship. What if love can’t conquer all? What if each of them needs more than the other can give? (goodreads.com) Before we get into this review, I want to mention that I won an ARC copy of this book through a Goodreads giveaway. So, thank you very much to Goodreads and whoever set up this giveaway! With that out of the way, I am wondering where to start with this review. I have so much I want to say about this book, but I can’t say everything on my mind because of spoilers. I think the thing I want to start off saying is that this book is so much more than your typical contemporary teen romance. Although to be fair, I don’t read a ton of contemporary teen romances so I might not be the best judge of that. But I think I can say that this is so much more than a romantic retelling of Romeo and Juliet. And maybe I’m just saying that because I love comic books and superheroes and this book makes many references to characters that I love, but it also deals with mental health issues, issues of abusive parents, and issues of identity. It touches on what makes healthy relationships and where relationships can go wrong. And yeah, it does have a couple of comic loving geeks in it and some sweet-sappy romance in it, but it’s also way more than that. I think I gave you too much information at once. Maybe I should have waited a little longer after reading it to write this, but I have so many thoughts on this book and I need to write them down while they are still fresh. Anyway, Verona Comics, as you might have figured out, is loosely based off of William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet (I don’t know why I put down “William Shakespeare’s”, we all know who wrote that stinking play). A boy who is the son of the guy who runs a giant comic book publishing company meets a girl who is the stepdaughter of a woman who runs an indie comic book store and they have feelings for each other, how could their families ever allow it?! Like I said, it is loosely based off of the whole star-crossed-lovers mess by Bill. The two MCs have the same first initials as Juliet and Romeo, and there are a few characters that I can see fitting as characters like the Nurse and Friar Laurence, and there are some similar plot points, but it is definitely its own story (thank goodness for that). Not that I don’t absolutely love the classic tragic play about two teenagers becoming infatuated with each other, causing a slew of deaths, and ultimately deciding that they cannot live if they can’t be together, but I don’t love it. It’s not my jam, but no offense to you if you love it, you can like what you like. I personally prefer this book, Verona Comics, about two teenagers falling in love and learning how to deal with depression and anxiety in both unhealthy and healthy ways and also learning how to love themselves along the way and making a ton of comic references. Okay, with that out of the way, let’s talk characters. First we have Jubilee. The synopsis of this book sort of made me think that Jubilee was going to be your average overachiever character who talks about “oh my gosh, I must be perfect or I will die and my whole life is focused on academics”, which she is occasionally. However, she is also open to trying to get out of her perfectionist bubble and living life a little, which I like. It makes her less robotic than I was expecting. And, unlike other characters who tend to be perfectionists, she doesn’t completely give up on her dreams. I also like how, even when she is rebelling a bit, she still respects her two moms and doesn’t go full on obnoxious brat. She could be an irritating character at some points, but she still felt authentic and relatable. Then there is Ridley. This poor boy needs all of the hugs. All of them. He is, in a nutshell, a mess. His parents are disgusting, he has no friends, he has to handle falling behind in school, and on top of everything else he also has depression and anxiety. As I said, he needs hugs and warm cookies. Now, maybe I read the synopsis wrong, but when it said he keeps disappointing his parents I was very much picturing a “bad boy” character who gets into trouble for fun and to get attention. I did not realize that by “disappointing his parents” the book meant his parents are stupid poopy brains who treat their son like dirt because of his mental health and the fact that he’s bisexual. Can someone please transport me into this book so that I can personally slap Ridley’s parents in the face? They deserve it because they make their son feel so terrible and when he tries to get help they make him feel worse and I would really like to punch them. Thank you. I may have derailed for a minute there. What was I talking about? Oh yeah, characters. The rest of the characters of this book are exciting, fun, fairly diverse, occasionally unrealistic, possibly have a tendency to lean toward the trope-y at times, but as a whole pretty likeable. Except, of course, Ridley’s parents. Now, I could probably say more about this book, but it is past my bedtime and I don’t want to spoil things for you if you decide to read it. So today we shall leave it at that. If you are interested in reading Verona Comics by Jennifer Dugan its expected release date is April 21st, 2020. Well, I’m off to my local comic book store to browse (not really because they aren’t open this late), thanks for reading and I hope to see you next time! Image source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/51901322-verona-comics?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=4wOMyeNgjW&rank=1 Personal Rating: 3 Stars Goodreads Rating: 3.53 Content Rating: Strong PG-13 Leave it to the heroes to save the world--villains just want to rule the world. In this unique YA anthology, thirteen acclaimed, bestselling authors team up with thirteen influential BookTubers to reimagine fairy tales from the oft-misunderstood villains' points of view. These fractured, unconventional spins on classics like "Medusa," Sherlock Holmes, and "Jack and the Beanstalk" provide a behind-the-curtain look at villains' acts of vengeance, defiance, and rage--and the pain, heartbreak, and sorrow that spurned them on. No fairy tale will ever seem quite the same again! (goodreads.com) As you might have gathered from the synopsis, this is an anthology of short stories by different authors all with a common subject of villainy. Each of the stories also has a bit of commentary at the end of them from some of the most well known BookTubers (YouTubers who primarily talk about books). It was published last year and I remember there being a big buzz about it for a bit. I think everyone was excited because there are so many good authors smooshed into this book and most people had that one author out of the bunch that they were reading this book for. For me it was definitely Marissa Meyer. I probably would not have cared one way or another about this book if she had not written a story for it and I’m sure a lot of people who read it felt similarly. Also… I like watching BookTubers’ channels so that was kind of fun to see some of their thoughts on the stories as well. The hype for this book has died down since last year and usually when I hear people mention it now I only hear negative things about it. Apparently a lot of people really do love to hate this book. I’m not entirely sure why, to be honest. While it wasn’t my favorite book in the whole world, I loved it and thought most of the stories were captivating (and some of them a little disconcerting). So I’m not really sure why people are so mad/upset/annoyed with this book (although some of the other reviews I’ve seen are irritated that the BookTubers are featured because it seems like a marketing ploy, which okay, maybe it is, but whatever), especially since there were thirteen whole stories in it. I mean, how can you not have found one that you liked out of thirteen? Like, you knew that this book was about villains going into it so you can’t be mad that all of the stories are about bad people doing not so nice things because that’s literally all this book is claiming to be. Anyway… I’m not normally a person who likes to read about the bad guys getting away with things and I find villain origin stories sad most of the time since even if it’s tragic we know they just go on to become a bad guy and possibly get beaten by the hero later on. However, I had fun reading these little tales of terribleness and after I got over wanting to scold the characters (yes, I’m that kind of person) I liked watching them paint the town red. Since there are thirteen individual stories, I thought I’d give a brief, spoiler-free review of each of them and just tell you what I, personally, liked and disliked about them. The Blood of the Imuriv by Reneé Ahdieh: This was one of the ones I didn’t enjoy quite as much. It didn’t seem like it had much of a point to it and since it wasn’t a retelling or an origin for a villain we already know, it didn’t interest me as much as the other ones. I did think the world building was interesting and the MC seemed like he had stuff going on that I would like to know more about. I think this one might have been better if it were the first chapter of a book. Jack by Ameriie: Oooooh boy. This one was a wild ride. I don’t want to say too much because I don’t want to spoil anything, but I liked this one. It is a retelling of Jack and the Beanstalk from the perspective of a giant. It wasn’t very exciting for the first part and I was kind of bored for a while, but that end, man, that was a good ending. It almost felt like something that I would have read in my Analytical Lit class that I took in high school. Gwen and Art and Lance by Soman Chaini: I have never really cared for the part of the legend of King Arthur in which Guinevere cheats on Arthur for Lancelot. (I mean, does anyone like it when characters cheat on each other? I hate it when that happens and I lose respect for the characters that are doing the cheating.) This is a modern retelling of that part of the legend told through text communications or instant messaging or something. It was easy enough to read and it flowed well, plus since it was all in text messages my mind decided to add a typing sound to each sentence, which was kind of fun/annoying. But, I still don’t like this part of Arthurian legend. Lance is a jerk. Arthur is a jerk. Gwen is a big jerk. And yet, none of them seemed all that villainous, just like spiteful kids making bad decisions. Shirley & Jim by Susan Dennard: As a fan of the Sherlock television show I was excited for this one because it is about a young Professor Moriarty and a young, female Sherlock. It wasn’t as good as I was expecting, but it wasn’t terrible. I don’t think it did a good job of showing how smart Shirley is, as we are supposed to believe it based off of her remarks since the story is told as an email to Watson. Shirley mentions a few times how much of a know-it-all she is and that she’s really good at chess, but that’s all the information we have about how clever she is, which ends up making her seem very naive in comparison to Jim. Still, it was fun to read about the chess matches between them and I liked it well enough. The Blessing of Little Wants by Sarah Enni: Another one that reminded me of Lit class, except this one is similar to the stories I read in class because I’m not sure I quite understood it. This was another one that wasn’t inspired by a character already in existence so perhaps that was why I couldn’t quite grasp the concept of it. I liked the characters in it and the world it was set in was cool (wish I could have seen more of it), but the twist at the ending… I don’t think I understood it. From what I could gather it was a cool twist, but I think it went over my head. The Sea Witch by Marissa Meyer: Predictably, the story by one of my favorite authors of all time was one of my favorite stories in the book. This was an origin story for the witch in the story of The Little Mermaid. It was definitely dark and gruesome, but it was still fun to read. It was sort of sad, but also satisfying in a way that the original story was not (I don’t want to say how because of spoilers). It did kind of feel like Hans Christian Andersen did most of the leg work on this one and Marissa Meyer just added her own sinister and entertaining touches. Beautiful Venom by Cindy Pon: Ugh, this one made me sad. It was a gripping read and the emotion in it was strong in it, but it was not really a fun read. Retelling the story of Medusa, this story covers some of the stuff in Greek mythology that I, admittedly, would rather forget. Like the fact that Medusa was raped by Poseidon and then turned into a monster after that by Athena as a punishment (which kinda makes me hate Athena). This story looks at that part of the myth in more depth and the fact that Medusa was not at fault for her monsterous form. It was showing us why she was a “villain”. Even though it was not as mischievous or fun as the rest of the villain stories in this anthology, it was one of my favorites because it was so emotional. Death Knell by Victoria Schwab: Another one that would have been at home in the Analytical Lit class and another one that was sad, but a good read. In this one the personification of Death wakes up in spring and climbs out of this mysterious well in order to go escort someone to the afterlife/kill them. There seemed to be strong symbols in this story (the well, a red flower crown, graves, dying grass, a glove) which made it feel like something I was supposed to analyze - in a fun nostalgic way. I didn’t actually take the time to analyze it (apologies to my dear Lit teacher), but it felt like I could have written a short paper/reflection on it. I don’t know why that made me happy with it, but it did. Marigold by Samantha Shannon: Even though this one felt a tad predictable, I really liked it. The story is about a Fae queen who lives in the wooded parts of England during the reign of Queen Victoria. This Fae lady has a tendency to kidnap girls and take them to live in the woods in her magical court, which sounds really creepy. And it sort of is... until you get reading the story more. I liked the setting for the story and the characters were interesting and there really wasn’t much I didn’t enjoy about this read. You, You, It’s All About You by Adam Silvera: In this story (which is written in second person interestingly enough) we meet a teenaged supervillan/crime boss. And she is not very nice. She deals drugs that can make you forget or remember things (which is kindling for a good book, methinks) and also uses one that somehow makes you do whatever she says. I’m not sure how I feel about this story. I think I wanted more of it. I wanted more backstory for the MC and more information on her boyfriend guy. More story all around. And then I might have been happy with it. That, or if the ending of this one was more final. Julian Breaks Every Rule by Andrew Smith: This was a weird one, especially for me since the main character, Julian, lives in Iowa and I live in Iowa. Not many stories take place in Iowa (except, of course, Bridges of Madison County, but I’ve never read that) so when one does come along all of the Iowan readers are on edge. I was a little bit annoyed at this story because Julian, the narrator, makes it seem like Iowa is not a great place at all *scoffs in indignation*, but he did paint a fairly accurate picture of several aspects of my state so… I guess I have to let it go. As a whole, I didn’t really like this story, but it did make me laugh a few times (like the quote “Iowans like to name their schools after prominent politicians who came from Iowa, as if to assert to the rest of the world that Iowa exists” (pg. 278) because it stings how true that is). I did not like Julian or is narrating voice, mostly because he had some weird obsession with foreshadowing and he kept mentioning when things were and weren’t foreshadowing. The plot was kind of bizarre and entertaining though, so I don’t rate it too low. Indigo and Shade by April Genevieve Tucholke: This one was a retelling of Beauty and the Beast from the suitor’s perspective (the suitor is the guy who Gaston is in the Disney version). The narrator/MC of this story is Brahm Valois, the golden boy of a ski resort town in Colorado. I kind of love how he is the narrator, honestly. Normally in first person stories the protagonist doesn’t tell you how awesome they are. They are more likely to talk about parts of themselves that they don’t like and that they think no one else will like either, but our man Brahm loves talking about how he is super handsome and super skilled. I’m sure if he were a real person I would have been annoyed with him, but it was a refreshing change from the characters who look in the mirror and describe to us how beautiful they are and then state that no one could ever love them. Brahm would probably look in the mirror and blow a kiss while proceeding to describe how no one's slick as Brahm, no one’s quick as Brahm, no one’s neck is incredibly thick as Brahm’s neck and how there is no one in town half as manly... I’m not sure that I actually liked the story because it was too fast paced and Indigo was pretty boring, but I thought Brahm was great. Sera by Nicola Yoon: Oof. This one was weird. Interesting, but weird. It kind of felt like when you drive past a two smashed up cars on the side of the road and you feel bad, but you keep staring because you are curious about how bad the damage is and if everyone is still alive. Apparently, this story is supposed to be a “genderbent God of War”, but I’m not sure what that means. Is God of War a book? A movie? Are they just referring to a mythological god who’s in charge of wars? Like Ares, Montu, or Tyr? I dunno. Whatever it is supposed to be, it was about a girl named Sera and her mother and sister. And Sera is a weirdy. A violent weirdy. I didn’t particularly like this story, but I couldn’t stop reading it and sort of wish I could see what happened after the end of it. So those are the stories. The thirteen tales of villainy and my thoughts on them. If any of them sound interesting to you then I would recommend checking out this book from your local library if they have it. Like I said, there are a lot of low ratings for this book, but there are a lot of high ones too so it seems like there is no way to tell if you would actually like it or not. I thought it was fun and I would probably reread some of the stories in it. Thank you for reading this really long review! I hope you were entertained! Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to rule the world. Image source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31450752-because-you-love-to-hate-me Personal Rating: 4.5 Stars Goodreads Rating: 4.07 Stars Geek girl Elle Wittimer lives and breathes Starfield, the classic science-fiction series she grew up watching with her late father. So when she sees a cosplay contest for a new Starfield movie, she has to enter. The prize? An invitation to the ExcelsiCon Cosplay Ball and a meet-and-greet with the actor slated to play Federation Prince Carmindor in the reboot. With savings from her gig at the Magic Pumpkin food truck and her dad's old costume, Elle's determined to win - unless her stepsisters get there first. Teen actor Darien Freeman used to live for cons - before he was famous. Now they're nothing but autographs and awkward meet-and-greets. Playing Carmindor is all he has ever wanted, but Starfield fandom has written him off as just another dumb heartthrob. As ExcelsiCon draws near, Darien feels more and more like a fake - until he meets a girl who shows him otherwise. But when she disappears at midnight, will he ever be able to find her again? (goodreads.com) I’ll be honest with you, I wasn’t sure that I was actually going to read this book when I picked it up from the library. I’d seen it all over the place and thought it looked kind of cute, but I wasn’t really in the mood for another retelling of Cinderella. I’ve read tons of retellings over the years, and typically I enjoy them, but I didn’t feel like reading this one. Maybe it was because it’s contemporary fiction and that’s not a genre I particularly like to read. So, I was all set to dump this book in favor of one of the books in the pile that has been growing in my room. However, I am thrilled that I opened it up. Normally, I don’t read contemporaries because when I read a book I want to get away from real life and experience something fantastical. When I started this book and found that the main character, Elle, is a fangirl who works a sometimes-not-so-fun-job and wants to be a writer and maintains a blog I raised a brow. This was too close to home. There was no way that this was going to turn out to be any fun to read because it reminded me too much of my own life. But as I continued to read I got caught up in the plot and the characters. I also got caught up in the thrill of being in a fandom. Elle and Darien are both part of a fandom for a made up show called Starfield, which I’ve gathered is a sort of Star Wars-Star Trek mashup with a few new elements thrown in. As the book goes on and we learn more about their fandom and their love of it the reader almost feels like they are part of this group. I loved it. This story takes all the great, fun, exciting parts of being in a fandom and shows how wonderful nerdiness can be. From the acknowledgements in the back of the book it’s pretty safe to say that this book was written for fangirls and fanboys. Particularly fans of sci-fi and fantasy. It felt like a book written for me. Okay the romance was a little cheesy. Maybe a lot cheesy, but I loved it so much. It was so great and I really got into the flow of it. You probably know that I’m not the biggest fan of romance stories. I don’t have anything against them, I just prefer to read other things most days. But dang, I was a big fan of this one, cheese and all! It was so sweet and so cute and maybe just the slightest bit Disney Channel-ish, but like, 100 times better. I don’t know what it was, but something about it just had me grinning. Elle and Darien forever, y’all. Catherine is the evil stepmother to end all evil stepmothers. I’m telling you, I’ve never hated Cinderella’s stepmother and sister more than in Geekerella. They were just vicious! And the worst part was that the mom thought she was being totally normal! Gah! She was terrible! I wanted to slap her silly and throw her under the wheels of the Magic Pumpkin. There was one point where the stepmonsters were so cruel that Elle was crying and it almost had me crying because I was so angry at stupid freaking Catherine (nothing against the name Catherine, just this character). Apart from the plot being fantastic, there was also a fair amount of humor in this book. Granted, many of the jokes are only funny if you understand sci-fi and fantasy stuff, but to the nerds for which this book was written there are some golden jokes in here. Not to mention the numerous references! I mainly caught the allusions to Avengers and superhero stuff, but there were plenty about Doctor Who, Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Batman, Star Trek, and Harry Potter. And those were just the references that I understood! I’m sure there were plenty more. Would this book be as entertaining to someone who has never experienced the fandom life? Eh, it’s hard to tell - I don’t interact with that kind of person often (jk, none of my coworkers understand a thing about fandoms). I think that a good portion of the book would be lost on anyone who has never obsessed over a book/movie/show to the point of at least considering reading fanfic, writing fanfic, drawing fanart, doing cosplay, or going to a convention. That’s how I feel like it’s different from some Disney Channel movie. In one of those movies you could go in not knowing anything about anything and still enjoy it. In this book you have to have some background knowledge. But if you want to read it anyway, go ahead and try it out! You might still have fun! It’s safe to say that I loved this book. I stayed up waaaaay past my bedtime reading it and woke up waaaaay before my alarm to finish it before work. Now I’m waaaaay tired and should probably take a nap. Thanks for reading. Remember to look to the stars. Aim. Ignite! *rocket ships sounds* Image source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30724132-geekerella?ac=1&from_search=true Personal Rating: 4.5 Stars Goodreads Rating: 3.66 Stars Lo-Melkhiin killed three hundred girls before he came to her village, looking for a wife. When she sees the dust cloud on the horizon, she knows he has arrived. She knows he will want the loveliest girl: her sister. She vows she will not let her be next. And so she is taken in her sister’s place, and she believes death will soon follow. Lo-Melkhiin’s court is a dangerous palace filled with pretty things: intricate statues with wretched eyes, exquisite threads to weave the most beautiful garments. She sees everything as if for the last time. But the first sun rises and sets, and she is not dead. Night after night, Lo-Melkhiin comes to her and listens to the stories she tells, and day after day she is awoken by the sunrise. Exploring the palace, she begins to unlock years of fear that have tormented and silenced a kingdom. Lo-Melkhiin was not always a cruel ruler. Something went wrong. Far away, in their village, her sister is mourning. Through her pain, she calls upon the desert winds, conjuring a subtle unseen magic, and something besides death stirs the air. Back at the palace, the words she speaks to Lo-Melkhiin every night are given a strange life of their own. Little things, at first: a dress from home, a vision of her sister. With each tale she spins, her power grows. Soon she dreams of bigger, more terrible magic: power enough to save a king, if she can put an end to the rule of a monster. (goodreads.com) You ought to know by this point what a sucker I am for pretty books. Before I get started explaining what I like and dislike about this book I need to take a moment to make sure you appreciate how pretty this cover is. LOOK AT IT. It’s even prettier when you’re holding it in your hand and feeling the matte dust jacket. Plus, when you look at the cover under the dust jacket it is just as pretty if not prettier. Lemme show you: Less than stellar picture quality, I know, but LOOK AT THAT GORGEOUSNESS! Golden sparkly stars all over the place and IT’S SO PRETTY! I love it so, so, so much. Seriously, it is a striking book in person and there are few earthly things that make my heart as happy as a beautiful book. Okay, now let’s get down to brass tacks: does this book have a story to match it’s cover? Heck yes (pardon my language). If you read the description then you’ve probably guessed that this is sort of a retelling of 1001 Arabian Nights or at the very least a take on the story of Shahrazad (or Sheherazade or Scheherazade or whatever you want to call her). To be honest, beyond a few key facts, I don’t know that much about these stories, but I’m pretty sure this differs a lot from the story of Shahrazad and her murderous husband. From what I’ve heard, I prefer this version. And I think it does a good job of preserving the integrity of the tale and maintaining Shahrazad’s cleverness. One thing you should know if you intend to read this story is that very few of the characters actually get names. The main girl does not, though I am pretty sure that she is Shahrazad. From the other reviews I was reading on Goodreads it would seem that many people think that the lack of names leads people to think there is a lack of characterization. I may be wrong, but I don’t think this is the case. I think it is more of a challenge for an author to characterize without the help of connotations that come with names, but I think that E.K. Johnston did a really good job. In addition to that, I think it made the story feel more like a fable or a campfire story to keep the characters nameless, which I liked. The main character, the girl, may not look like much to someone who is used to reading about heroines who start rebellions and don’t take crap (pardon my language) from anyone. She seems to go along with her situation without much struggle, she obeys the villain, and she prevents fighting, even if the fighting would make her personal situation and the lives of a few others better. Just because she comes off as demure does not mean that she is a weak female character. Personally, I think she is a lot stronger than a character who kicks tush just to be seen as strong. She has quiet strength and she is a wise character. She doesn’t have all the answers, but she bides her time while she gets them and when the time is right she stands up for her family and for herself. The villain of this story, Lo-Melkhiin, is one of the few characters with a name. I kind of like that the bad guy gets a name even though the main character does not. There’s something poetic about it, ya know? Lo-Melkiin is a pretty standard bad guy when it comes to the way he treats the MC, but what makes him interesting is that he is actually a good ruler of the lands he controls. It gives him some depth beyond big, mean, and scary. There are many other characters that I really liked in this story. Her father, her mother, her sister, her mother-in-law, the sculptor, the henna artist, the women of the palace - the list goes on. Personally, I think this story is full of rich characters who all move the story along in an interesting and unique way. I think a lot of the time a person’s reaction to a story depends on what kind of story they are in the mood to read. A lot of the time I’m ready to read cookie cutter YA novels with tough, witty, strong, righteously angry protagonists, but sometimes I just want a beautiful story with some meat to it, something that makes me think. When I picked up this book that was the reading mood I was in. I have been in a bit of a reading slump lately and none of the thrilling YA novels that I normally gobble up have been tempting me. I started A Thousand Nights yesterday and I could scarcely put it down. It’s a good read for a dark night when you can revel in the mysteriousness of the plot and the weirdness of it all. Speaking of weirdness… this book has a lot of it. Or maybe not weirdness, but foreignness. The characters had a very established religion in the world that the story takes place in, which I struggled reading about personally. It definitely does not fit anywhere alongside or close to Christian beliefs. They also messed around with dark powers, which made me wary of reading, but the story was ultimately really good. The writing was what you might call “flowery”. Why use three words when you can use, like, fifteen? Sometimes I don’t have the patience for floral language, but it just helped weave the magicalness of this story. It just had a feeling of a classic. It feels less commercialized and extremely out of the ordinary. Part of that might be because it is a stand alone (though I hear there is a companion novel). I don’t know if I’ve mentioned it before, but in recent years I’ve become enamored with stand alones because they leave you feeling like you’ve accomplished something or that the story is really, sincerely done and that’s okay. Not that I don’t love a good series, it’s just nice to be without the commitment sometimes. As far as maturity rating (which I feel all books should come with, just like movies) I’m going to have to say a light PG-13. While nothing explicit happens in the book, they reference stuff a lot throughout the book and there is some pretty intense violence. I’m not sure if I will read the companion novel to this story, since I enjoy it by itself so much, but if I do I’m sure it will be interesting (and it has a pretty cover too…). As you can probably tell, I enjoyed this book and I’m happy it got me out of my reading slump. NOT TO MENTION IT’S BEAUTIFUL. I think I used the word “beautiful” a few too many times in this review, but whatever. You can just deal with it because it is the best word I know to describe A Thousand Nights. Thanks for reading, I’d best go tend to the sheep (jk, I don’t own any sheep). Image source:https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/21524446-a-thousand-nights Personal Rating: 4.5 Stars Goodreads Rating: 4.1 Stars Catherine may be one of the most desired girls in Wonderland and a favorite of the unmarried King, but her interests lie elsewhere. A talented baker, she wants to open a shop and create delectable pastries. But for her mother, such a goal is unthinkable for a woman who could be a queen. At a royal ball where Cath is expected to receive the King’s marriage proposal, she meets handsome and mysterious Jest. For the first time, she feels the pull of true attraction. At the risk of offending the King and infuriating her parents, she and Jest enter into a secret courtship. Cath is determined to choose her own destiny. But in a land thriving with magic, madness, and monsters, fate has other plans. (goodreads.com) You might be thinking: “Corrie, I thought you didn’t like romance novels. This is clearly a romance novel, why the heck did you read it?” To which I would humbly reply: “Are you kidding me? Marissa Meyer wrote this book! Marissa Meyer is the queen! Who cares if it has romance in it, I’d read a book by Marissa Meyer even if she said it was a thousand page book about a man brushing his teeth.” So, anyway… some of you might know that I’m unconditionally and irrevocably in love with the Lunar Chronicles, which is also by Marissa Meyer. You can probably imagine that I was absolutely thrilled to find this new book by her waiting under the Christmas tree with my name on it. I didn’t read it right away because I was in the midst of another book, which normally would not be a problem for me to start another book, but when it’s a book that I’m going to want to spend every second of my time with I don’t want other books to be distracting me. When I finally did get around to reading it, however… OH MY GOODNESS GRACIOUS SAKES ALIVE! THIS BOOK WAS MASTERFUL! WONDERFUL! GORGEOUS AND FANTASTICAL! I KNOW WHY IT’S CALLED HEARTLESS BECAUSE IT WILL TEAR OUT YOUR HEART AND SQUISH IT LIKE PLAY-DOUGH AND DROP IT IN THE DIRT AND BURY IT AND THEN DIG IT UP AGAIN AND FORCEFULLY SHOVE IT IN YOUR CHEST AND THEN RIP IT OUT AGAIN! MY WORD, IT WAS GOOD THOUGH! In anycase, I truly enjoyed the book (except for the parts where I was sobbing uncontrollably) and found it to be an interesting interpretation of Lewis Carroll's Wonderland characters and themes. While the romance is a large part of the plot, there is also an action storyline that is not mentioned in the synopsis. This action plot will grip readers, even if it isn’t that hard to figure out the mystery of it. This book will probably make you somewhat hungry as baked goods are described in detail. The main character loves to bake and I found my mouth watering at many of the descriptions of her tarts, cakes, and other treats. The characters were all unique and immensely entertaining, displaying the human condition well, even though a good portion of them were not human characters. Our heroine, Cath, is particularly interesting because of the fact that you go into the book knowing that she is the Queen of Hearts from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. One wonders how the main character can be the villain, but Her Majesty Queen Meyer does an excellent job of writing Cath over the course of the book and keeping her from being a static character while still allowing her development to be slow enough (or abrupt enough when needed) to be realistic. Despite what the summary may have you think, there is no love triangle in this book. I won’t delve into further detail because that would involve spoilers, but I’ll tell you right now that the romance in this book is not particularly triangular where Cath is involved. The romantic interest of this book, Jest, is not what I was expecting. While I went into the book expecting a dark and brooding cliche, I was pleasantly surprised by Jest’s playful demeanor and generally happy outlook. And then there’s Jest and Cath together… THEY ARE MY OTP AND AIN’T NO ONE GONNA TELL ME DIFFERENT. THEY ARE SO SWEET AND PERFECT AND, AND, AND I REALLY CAN’T SAY MUCH OF ANYTHING WITHOUT SPOILERS BUT I THINK I’M GOING TO BREAK DOWN CRYING AGAIN. The difficult thing about this book is that I want readers to know what they are getting into when they read it, but I also really don’t want to spoil it for anyone because it’s such a good book and I would feel terrible if I took away an ounce of enjoyment of this book with a spoiler. With that in mind, I will be including two spoiler sections for this post. The first shall have the vague spoilers that will warn you about somethings in this book that may spare you from reading something you really don’t want to read but refrain from any details. The second spoiler section with divulge the details of these warnings in case you’re curious or you want to know what if I’m being overdramatic about the vague spoilers. To read the spoilers click the “Read More” thingy in the bottom right corner of the post (unless you went directly to the post link, in which case you just need to scroll down). To those of you who don’t want to read the spoilers, I thank you for your time and if you do pick up this book I hope you enjoy it! I highly recommend it, as you can probably tell, but it’s not for everyone. If you have or want to read it let me know in the comments. Thank you! Image source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18584855-heartless |
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