Category: Review (Page 123 of 295)

BOOK REVIEW: There Will Come a Darkness (Age of Darkness #1) by Katy Rose Pool

July 5, 2019 / Arielle / 2 Comments

There Will Come a Darkness (Age of Darkness #1)
by Katy Rose Pool
Purchase on: Amazon
Add to: Goodreads

Synopsis:
The Age of Darkness approaches.
Five lives stand in its way.
Who will stop it... or unleash it?

For generations, the Seven Prophets guided humanity. Using their visions of the future, they ended wars and united nations―until the day, one hundred years ago, when the Prophets disappeared.

All they left behind was one final, secret prophecy, foretelling an Age of Darkness and the birth of a new Prophet who could be the world’s salvation . . . or the cause of its destruction. As chaos takes hold, five souls are set on a collision course:

A prince exiled from his kingdom.
A ruthless killer known as the Pale Hand.
A once-faithful leader torn between his duty and his heart.
A reckless gambler with the power to find anything or anyone.
And a dying girl on the verge of giving up.

One of them―or all of them―could break the world. Will they be savior or destroyer? Perfect for fans of Throne of Glass, Children of Blood and Bone, and An Ember in the Ashes.

Hassan had crouched down to Azizi’s level, putting a hand on the boy’s bony shoulder. “You are helping. This–getting on this ship with your mother and sister to sail to an unfamiliar land–it’s just as important as what I’m doing. Just be brave. To keep out home inside your heart, right beside your hope, even when you’re far away–it’s one of the bravest things there is. I’m going to make Herat safe for you, Azizi.”

I am LOVING the fact that the newest fad in YA fantasy seems to feature the rag-tag group of characters from all walks of life, destined to come together to *do* something important. In this case, it’s stopping the apocalypse. There’s a secret prophecy, three harbingers of death, and of course, an evil zealot that wants to wipe all of the Gifted people out.

The cast of characters was super unique and memorable. I can’t wait to dig deeper into each of their personalities and I was pleasantly surprised by some of the twists that popped up towards the end. I don’t want to get too far into them because a few of them might not be who you expect and it was fun watching all the chaos unfold and destinies change.

I really liked the premise, too, even though I have a few thoughts on how it was presented. I feel like in fantasy series’ there is always that one point of impending doom that the books work toward until the end of the series where the hero is successful and good wins. In this book, the secret final prophecy foretold a time of darkness and what sounded like the end of times. A bunch of things unfold towards the end of this book and that is set in motion. To me, it almost seemed like too much happened already in the first book. I loved the world building and I felt like the characters were fleshed out enough, I just would have like a little more preparation I guess? I don’t know how many books are planned for this series so maybe Pool wanted to condense more into this to really ratchet up the danger level immediately for book two. Either way, it all unfolded in a very believable, and INCREDIBLY gripping way (!!!) I just would have liked there to be a tiny bit more build up before the start of the apocalypse lol. I was biting my nails the entire last half of this book as more and more unfolded and I cannot wait for the rest of the series! I think a lot of people will love this and will be dying for more.

Once, as the rest of Jude’s world had crashed down around him, his gave had been drawn to the warm, dark eyes of a strange boy, hunched over the side of a scrying pool.
Now, their eyes met again.
And Jude’s true north was found.

Huge thanks to NetGalley and Henry Holt Books for Young Readers for giving me a change to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review. Also, since the quotes above came from an unfinished copy, they are subject to change.♥

BOOK REVIEW: Hello Girls by Brittany Cavallaro & Emily Henry

July 2, 2019 / Cassie / 2 Comments

Hello Girls by Brittany Cavallaro, Emily Henry
Purchase on: Amazon, iBooks
Add to: Goodreads

Synopsis:
Best friends are forged by fire. For Winona Olsen and Lucille Pryce, that fire happened the night they met outside the police station—both deciding whether to turn their families in.

Winona has been starving for life in the seemingly perfect home that she shares with her seemingly perfect father, celebrity weatherman Stormy Olsen. No one knows that he locks the pantry door to control her eating and leaves bruises where no one can see them.

Lucille has been suffocating beneath the needs of her mother and her drug-dealing brother, wondering if there’s more out there for her than disappearing waitress tips and generations of barely getting by.

One harrowing night, Winona and Lucille realize they can’t wait until graduation to start their new lives. They need out. Now. All they need is three grand, fast. And really, a stolen convertible to take them from Michigan to Las Vegas can’t hurt.

It struck her then that the two of them were crouched between a church and a police station – two places of confession – and that, for whatever reason, they’d chosen each other instead.

Thank you to Edelweiss, the authors and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

From the opening chapters, I knew I was going to be hooked into this book. I thought the way Winona and Lucille were introduced was brilliant and captivating. Immediately I felt for both of these girls and their horrible home lives. In in spite of their terrible families, the bond they formed was truly inspiring. The deep friendship between the two was what kept the story staying grounded when some of the other elements get a bit wild and crazy.

Lucille couldn’t have wants. She couldn’t have needs. What she had was a hole that she shoveled her love into, a hole she couldn’t see the bottom of until she met Winona.

During the initial part of Winona and Lucille’s cross country road trip, I found my interest waning. After the awesome beginning, it took the story a little while to pick back up.

But as Winona and Lucille get closer to their final destination, the twists and turns pick up and more characters are introduced to the story. There’s some great moments about first relationships, trust, toxic family relationships and jealousy among friends.

Sometime since yesterday, it was like Winona had gone from being a book Lucille knew by heart to being the same book with its ending ripped out.

The ending is quite explosive, and honestly, a little heartbreaking. However, I really liked how the authors chose to end it the way they did.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and thought there were a lot really great themes packed in a Thelma and Louise-type road trip story. The writing was excellent and engaging. My main fault was the pacing, as it definitely lulled at times. Also, sometimes the story seemed to go off the rails a little bit and was a bit unrealistic, but overall I enjoyed it.

Hello Girls is available August 6, 2019.

“I don’t know you or your business, honey, but I can tell you this – you two are the Lamborghini of problems.”

BOOK REVIEW: You Owe Me a Murder by Eileen Cook

June 26, 2019 / Cassie / 4 Comments

You Owe Me a Murder by Eileen Cook
Purchase on: Amazon, iBooks
Add to: Goodreads

Synopsis:
Seventeen-year-old Kim gets more than she bargained for when she is set up for murder. Perfect for fans of One of Us is Lying, E. Lockhart, and Gillian Flynn.

17-year-old Kim never expected to plot a murder. But that was before her boyfriend dumped her for another girl. Now, Kim’s stuck on a class trip to London with him and his new soulmate and she can’t help wishing he was a little bit dead, even if she’d never really do that.

But when Kim meets Nicki, a stranger on the plane who’s more than willing to listen to Kim’s woes, things start to look up. Nicki's got a great sense of humor, and when she jokes about swapping murders, Kim plays along—that is, until Kim’s ex-boyfriend mysteriously dies.

Blackmailed by Nicki to fulfill her end of the deal, Kim will have to commit a murder or take the fall for one.

I don’t lie to hurt people, or to pull something over on them, but I guess sometimes I…make up stories to make myself more interesting.

I wish I would have liked this book more than I did. I thought the premise was really interesting, but was unfortunately let down by the execution. And honestly, a lot of it came down to the main character, Kim, who I wanted to yell at in complete frustration on multiple occasions.

The beginning was quite well done, with Kim, a 17-year-old girl, headed to London on a class trip. What was supposed to be a fun trip with her boyfriend is now hampered by the fact they are broken up and he is dating a new girl who is also on the trip.

Enter Nicki, who Kim meets in the airport and gets to know on the flight. Nicki, who is engaging, enigmatic and friendly with Kim, gets to Kim to verbally agree to commit a murder for each other. (The fact that Kim was quite drunk when making this verbal commitment is a fact for another day…) Nicki will murder Kim’s ex-boyfriend and Kim will murder Nicki’s mom. A win-win, right? Kim doesn’t take the verbal pact seriously, until her ex-boyfriend ends up dead, and Nicki won’t leave her alone.

Trying to keep up with Nicki’s conversational train was like navigating a carnival fun house. You’d turn one way and it would be a dead end. You’d go in a new direction and think you were going the right way and then run smack into a mirror. Up was down, right was left, and nothing made sense.

Up until the ex-boyfriend’s death, I enjoyed the book fairly well. But after that, it turned a bit ridiculous. It was hard to believe that Kim could get away with all that she was doing. And honestly, I just didn’t really like her much and I don’t think the author intended for her to be unlikable. Kim was fairly immature and often selfish and thought only of herself. A few other characters get caught in her and Nicki’s crosshairs, and those were the characters I felt badly for.

I feel fairly meh about the ending. More than anything, I was just happy for it to be over. This was my second Eileen Cook book, and I definitely enjoyed With Malice more.

I didn’t want to lie. I wanted to be normal and interesting, but I wasn’t.

BOOK REVIEW: Bloodwitch (The Witchlands #3) by Susan Dennard

June 24, 2019 / Arielle / 4 Comments

Bloodwitch (The Witchlands #3)
by Susan Dennard
Purchase on: Amazon, iBooks
Add to: Goodreads

Synopsis:
Fans of Susan Dennard's New York Times bestselling Witchlands series have fallen in love with the Bloodwitch Aeduan. And now, finally, comes his story.

High in a snowy mountain range, a monastery that holds more than just faith clings to the side of a cliff. Below, thwarted by a lake, a bloodthirsty horde of raiders await the coming of winter and the frozen path to destroy the sanctuary and its secrets.

The Bloodwitch Aeduan has teamed up with the Threadwitch Iseult and the magical girl Owl to stop the destruction. But to do so, he must confront his own father, and his past.

Review:

“From the day she had stabbed Aeduan in the heart, that heart had become hers—and she would not let this be his end.”

Why. Aren’t. More. People. Reading. This. Series?!@?!?! WHY. I’m serious. Sooz’s writing is on an entirely different level than like 80% of the stuff currently out right now in YA fantasy. Yes it’s complex. (When has that ever been a bad thing?) Yes, sometimes you can lose track of what’s happening and where it’s happening. (That’s what a map is for) But isn’t that sometimes part of a series’ appeal?! Getting so caught up in a story that sometimes you stop and think about all these ~threads~, lol see what I did there, and realize there are so many awesome plot points and you don’t know where any of them are going but you KNOW that since you’re reading a book by Susan Dennard that all of your questions eventually WILL get answered and probably in a super dramatic, crazy-ass way that you weren’t expecting AT ALL.

“I was supposed to tell you somethin’ else, sir. Something to make you believe Captain Sotar really sent me and that raiders are really coming. She said, ‘Noden and the Hagfishes ought to bend to a woman’s rule.’”

One piece of advice I will give to those of you who do have trouble with complex story-lines, though, is to read all four one right after the other. I picked up Truthwitch earlier this year and read Windwitch and Sightwitch right after. I started this one but got distracted by who knows what and then didn’t start it again until about a week ago. And then, I actually started listening to this on audio (which was awesome btw because the narrator did a ton of different accents that I didn’t expect) while at work in my free time so I created a bit of a disconnect for myself. However, all I really had to do was google whatever questions I had (and mostly those came from the stuff we learned from Sightwitch—SO DON’T SKIP THAT ONE) and the lovely world of bookish wikis saved me.

He was a Bloodwitch no longer. He was a monk no longer. He was man, just a man. It would have to be enough.

Now to the nitty gritty of this book. Aeduan’s book. I LOVED learning more about him, even though what we learned is enough to make my heart feel like it was ripped out and stomped on, tbh. My poor bloodwitch boy. At this point, all of our main characters—Aeduan/Iseult/Owl/kinda Leopold, Merik/Esme, Safi/Vaness/Hell-Bards, and then Vivia—are scattered across The Witchlands so we have a lot of different POVs that are entirely different from one another. Sometimes it would bother me if I didn’t want to leave a particular group just yet but books that are told like this always seem WAY more intense once the story picks up and gets more frantic and you find that some of their paths might start to intersect again. I love the drama that it builds. Just like with its predecessors, the last quarter of this book is INSANE. Like…..insane. I waited to start that entire chunk until after my daughter went to bed because I knew it was going to be non-stop crazy until the last page. Thank God I did that.

Going to throw in a spoiler paragraph real quick so I can really flail without ruining things for anyone…

View Spoiler »-IS THE ROOK KING BAD?!
-ISEULT SAVING AEDUAN/ THEIR ENTIRE RELATIONSHIP SDIO;GSDILGEJOISG
-WTF @ MATHEW AND HABIM
-THANK FUCK VANESS IS STILL ALIVE
-MERIK NOOOOOO ….But glad Safi got to see him..maybe one last time? *sobs*
-STIX??? DEAD ER NO?????
-SAFI AND ISEULT REUNITING (loved that when Iseult came across her Safi was arguing with Caden like her usual self lol)
-I have so many questions
-How the fuck did Ragnor and Disi get out of the ice and why didn’t the daughters get out?
-Is Stix a Paladin?
-Will everyone wake up out of the ice? THEY FUCKING BETTER « Hide Spoiler

So yeah basically if anyone has any thoughts/answers about all that I put under the spoiler tab PLZ MESSAGE ME ASAP. I loved this book and Aeduan and I CANNOT wait for Iseult’s book, holy crap. I NEED IT BAD.

Te varuje.
I trust you as if my soul were yours.

BOOK REVIEW: Sky in the Deep by Adrienne Young

June 20, 2019 / Arielle / 8 Comments

Sky in the Deep by Adrienne Young
Purchase on: Amazon, iBooks
Add to: Goodreads

Synopsis:
AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER!

A 2018 Most Anticipated Young Adult book that is part Wonder Woman, part Vikings—and all heart.

OND ELDR. BREATHE FIRE.

Raised to be a warrior, seventeen-year-old Eelyn fights alongside her Aska clansmen in an ancient, rivalry against the Riki clan. Her life is brutal but simple: fight and survive. Until the day she sees the impossible on the battlefield—her brother, fighting with the enemy—the brother she watched die five years ago.

Faced with her brother's betrayal, she must survive the winter in the mountains with the Riki, in a village where every neighbor is an enemy, every battle scar possibly one she delivered. But when the Riki village is raided by a ruthless clan thought to be a legend, Eelyn is even more desperate to get back to her beloved family.

She is given no choice but to trust Fiske, her brother’s friend, who sees her as a threat. They must do the impossible: unite the clans to fight together, or risk being slaughtered one by one. Driven by a love for her clan and her growing love for Fiske, Eelyn must confront her own definition of loyalty and family while daring to put her faith in the people she’s spent her life hating.

“THIS IS A GRIPPING STORY, RICHLY TOLD.” —Renée Ahdieh, New York Times bestselling author of Flame in the Mist
"FIERCE, VIVID, AND VIOLENTLY BEAUTIFUL.” —Stephanie Garber, New York Times bestselling author of Caraval
“A STUNNING DEBUT” —Roshani Chokshi, New York Times bestselling author of The Star-Touched Queen
“BLEAK BEAUTIFUL AND DEADLY” —Traci Chee, New York Times bestselling author of The Reader
“WHOLLY UNIQUE AND INSTANTLY ADDICTIVE” —Kerri Maniscalco, New York Times bestselling author of Hunting Prince Dracula
“HEARTRENDING, HEART-MENDING” —Kayla Olson, bestselling author of Sandcastle Empire

“Does it hurt?” He leaned closer.
My stomach dropped, pulling my heart down with it and the pulse in my veins beat unevenly. He was too close to me.
I stood, the bench scraping on the stone beneath us. He looked up at me, and I tried to find something to say. But there was too much. It was all buried too deep. I couldn’t reach it.
“Everything hurts,” I whispered.

Hollllyyyyy BLEEP. Guys. GUYS. I started this in audio ON A WHIM yesterday because I needed something new and honestly it was one of the first books that was available on Overdive as I was scrolling through. I hate admitting this but I actually got a copy of this in eARC form from Netgally but got busy and pushed it aside (obviously) and am only just now reviewing it. I’m a terrible person. BUT BETTER LATE THAN NEVER RIGHT?! Especially after this glowing review that’s trying to burst out of me.

“I feel like…” I caught the sob in my chest and swallowed it, suddenly embarrassed. He leaned in closer to me.
“Like what?”
My eyes ran over his face. The scruff on his jaw. The dark lashes around his blue eyes. “Like I’m a flame about to burn out.”
My voice was so thin it sounded like I could reach out and break it with my fingers. “Like I’m going to disappear.”

I think I also might have put this off because I thought that the Viking aspect might be too much. I’m not a person who loves that extra dose of violence that Vikings are sure to always provide. I mean it’s common knowledge. Rage and duty and honor practically runs through their veins. They are warriors through and through and this book did indeed have it’s fair share of visceral, gory scenes. However, it’s more than that. It’s about family and love and realizing that someone you’ve been taught to hate all your life might just be the person who is going to save you.

Like I loved the entire process that Eelyn goes through throughout the entire book. From a proud, I’d rather die than be in a room sharing breath with a Riki, stance to a hmm they are kind of similar to my own people, to okay, um, now I’m in love with one and I can accept that my brother is now one, lol. I loved seeing Fiske’s relationship with Iri, and how Inge took him in as one of her own. How right after she came to be with them, how Halvard was always kind to her and wanted to impress her and learn things from her. I mean this really is a book about family in every sense of the word imaginable. Family doesn’t have to be blood to be family and Fiske and Iri were a perfect example of this.

Fiske in general was just…a treat. I don’t know if I’d exactly call it hate to love…though I guess it was. ANYWAY I loved that progression as well. There was no insta love at all. It was a gradual, but inevitable thing and I just…*shivers* I love it so damn much. So many perfect scenes and lines come to mine I will definitely be re-reading this again in the future.

“I’ll go where you go.”
This time, the words were unyielding.

Finally…the writing. This writing is 100% on brand with what I love in a book. It made me feel every single emotion. Fear, anger, love, hurt, disgust. And my heart swelled. Boy did it swell. There were so many lines of just pure feeling that enveloped me and carried me away. Since having my daughter there have been few times where I have pushed my valuable sleep aside to stay up reading and this was one of those times. I honestly probably could have finished it all in one day but I didn’t want my tiredness to impact me loving the ending. ASKLGNSEKVSLIEHGE. So yeah. This was an excellent book and I honestly can’t wait to get my hands on the next.

“Ond eldr,” I whispered his people’s battle cry against his lips. Breathe fire.