Author: GoodeyReads

Book Review: Essence (The Essence Chronicles #1) by Hayley Gabrielle

GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ☆☆☆ 1/2
Audience: Young adult fantasy
Length: 406 pages
Author: Hayley Gabrielle
Publisher: Self-published
Release Date: June 22nd, 2018
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

When Abbey Shader is summoned to Ethra, a land where human qualities roam free in flesh known as Essences, her life and the universe as she knows it splits open before her.
With the expansive secrets of humanity at her fingertips, Abbey’s strength of will and heart are put to a test no amount of time or meticulous study could have prepared her for.
Left to decide between the comfort of the familiar and the potential enlightenment of the strange, Abbey is thrust into a journey that demands more of her at every turn. She must learn to trust what she sees, and trust what she can’t.

Essence marks the first installment of the young adult fantasy series, The Essence Chronicles. 

Thank you to the author for sending me a digital copy of the book. All opinions are my own.

AN INTERESTING CONCEPT.

This was interesting! I didn’t know quite what I would be getting into when I started this book. The author reached out and asked if I would like to review a copy and upon checking out Goodreads I accepted the offer because it did sound up my alley!

Do y’all remember the movie, Inside Out? With all of the girl’s emotions portrayed as actual creatures/people? THIS WAS THE BOOK FORM. The further I read and the more characters I met that embodied different essences, the more it reminded me of that movie. This isn’t a good or bad thing, I just saw the similarities. I rather enjoyed having characters completely polarized in their personalities. It made for fun conversation and some solid banter. Combining Joy, Pride, Good, Honesty, and Pessimism (the ones we met in this book) was a squad to watch.

Abbey grew on me over the book. At first I was shaky with her. But what I appreciated was that she didn’t run off and agree with everything everyone was trying to tell her. I hate when characters don’t question what the heck just happened and loved that Abbey asked all the questions. It gave her time to understand and slowly grasp what was happening around her.

The love story with Zac is cute! Even though it was over a shorter period of time it didn’t feel rushed. There’s still a lot of feelings to convey and bonds to form. I liked watching them interact and learn more about each other. Zac is charming and has a deep background that I want to know more about.

As far as magic systems go, this one was rather confusing. I felt as frustrated as Abbey sometimes trying to understand the Earth, erodosphere and Ethra interactions. Then throw on top the Melder, and the Breathing and it left me all sorts of flipped around. The more I read, the clearer everything became and I’m happy that by the end I better understood what was everything meant.

At times this book read more like a prequel. Not a lot honestly happened. Abbey and the crew around her went on an adventure to meet the Overseer who brought Abbey to Ethra in the first place. That scene lasted a whole 2 pages. Instead, we really created a background for the lands and an understanding of how Ethra works in conjunction with Earth. While I wished it had a bit more substance, I’m still really interested in book two. I always found myself wanting to pick up my Kindle to keep reading this and am curious where Abbey will take us next.

Overall audience notes:

  • Young adult fantasy
  • Language: some minor language throughout
  • Romance: a few kisses
  • Violence: knives, animal attacks, not super gory, but moderately descriptive

Instagram || Goodreads

Top Ten Tuesday: My Favorite Things to Eat/Drink While Reading!

GoodeyReads5 Comments

I’m not sure I even have ten favorites for today’s Top Ten Tuesday. We’ll see what happens as I think about what to post here.

LET’S FIND OUT.

Popcorn

Oh, how I loooooooooove popcorn. Forever, and ever AMEN.

Water

I finally gave up drinking sodas regularly (it’s a special occasion drink only now) so I usually have a large water sitting next to me. Stay hydrated!

Kind brand breakfast bars

I wake up every morning and find a breakfast bar my husband leaves for me (he leaves at 5 AM). I eat while I read before the day gets started!

Chips

I keep a bag of chips as my “treat” when I’m craving something salty late at night. My current fav? Lays Natural Ruffles, so good, and much better than other options!

Granola

I have this favorite granola: Love Crunch Organic Chocolate Coconut Macaroon. PERFECT dose of chocolate without feeling like I am eating something horrible for me. Win-win in my book.

Lemonade

Y’all, lemonade-holic over here. I LOVE IT SO MUCH. I make a great lavender lemonade that is to die for too. I am now craving it. Will probably have to make ASAP.

Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups

My one truly not so great for me item. But sometimes, YOU NEED TO EAT THE CHOCOLATE. And this is what I’m always craving while reading.

Chick-fil-a

I don’t eat too much fast food. I’m also 90% vegetarian (I eat fish sometimes), but you know what I won’t give up? CHICK-FIL-A NUGGETS. Never.

Muffins

I love baking. I love baking muffins. I probably make them once a week. You can usually bet I’m eating one while reading at that point.

French fries

You know at the beginning of this when I said how much I love popcorn? My other life weakness: FRENCH FRIES. I will eat potatoes in any form (besides potato salad because: ew) and for every meal. Having a bad day? French fries will cure that.

I did it! Thanks to my hubs, we came up with ten things I can be found eating or drinking while reading.

What about you? What’s your favorite thing to eat or drink while reading? Lets talk in the comments!

Instagram || Goodreads

Book Review: House of Salt and Sorrows by Erin A. Craig

GoodeyReads3 Comments

Rating: ☆☆☆☆
Audience: Young adult fantasy (retelling)
Length: 416 pages
Author: Erin A. Craig
Publisher: Delacorte
Release Date: August 6th, 2019
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

In a manor by the sea, twelve sisters are cursed.

Annaleigh lives a sheltered life at Highmoor, a manor by the sea, with her sisters, their father, and stepmother. Once they were twelve, but loneliness fills the grand halls now that four of the girls’ lives have been cut short. Each death was more tragic than the last—the plague, a plummeting fall, a drowning, a slippery plunge—and there are whispers throughout the surrounding villages that the family is cursed by the gods.

Disturbed by a series of ghostly visions, Annaleigh becomes increasingly suspicious that the deaths were no accidents. Her sisters have been sneaking out every night to attend glittering balls, dancing until dawn in silk gowns and shimmering slippers, and Annaleigh isn’t sure whether to try to stop them or to join their forbidden trysts. Because who—or what—are they really dancing with?

When Annaleigh’s involvement with a mysterious stranger who has secrets of his own intensifies, it’s a race to unravel the darkness that has fallen over her family—before it claims her next.

SO CREEPY.

I did this as a buddy read with some friends on Instagram and it was so much fun! It really made this book even better being able to discuss it with everyone.

I thought it was incredibly creepy. The descriptions of what Annaleigh was seeing would flat out make me full body CRINGE. And nobody would believe her! It was the perfect dose of eerie and disturbing that I’m comfortable with (which is low, I don’t love horror-ish stuff).

The mystery itself kept me busy the entire book. I never knew where to point my finger! The author was able to draw attention to character after character that could be the murderer and wow, I was impressed. By the end though (and the reason I gave it 4 stars) was because the ending was a little cliche. I did appreciate that it wasn’t clear and that truthfully, they weren’t inherently evil.

The ball scenes were beautiful and descriptive but I wanted more of them! I love ball scenes and since this is based off of Twelve Dancing Princesses I was hoping for even more dancing. It was amazing to see how this was woven into the murder mystery though. It brought out a very macabre side to the story that I was all over.

I did ship Annaleigh’s endgame from the beginning, but I also don’t know that the romance was entirely necessary. It did give her a chance for a romantic happy ending. They didn’t get a lot of chances to connect on screen, leaving me wanting more of them or not at all.

All of the death left me shocked. I only flipped pages faster and faster wondering who was going to die next. SO MANY DEAD. I mean whoa. No wonder there had to be twelve princesses for this story to work out. It was unpleasant and occasionally gruesome. Definitely a great read.

Overall audience notes:

  • Young adult fantasy
  • Language: very little (maybe one word?)
  • Romance: some kisses
  • Violence: murder, possession, drownings, falling from buildings, fire, freezing to death; fairly detailed and cringe-worthy

Instagram || Goodreads

Book Review: Lioness Rampant (Song of the Lioness #4) by Tamora Pierce

GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ☆☆☆
Audience: Young adult fantasy
Length: 384 pages
Author: Tamora Pierce
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Release Date: July 17th, 1988
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

From Tamora Pierce, the final book in the Song of the Lioness Quartet, honored with the Margaret A. Edwards Award.

Having achieved her dream of becoming the first female knight errant, Alanna of Trebond is not sure what to do next. She has triumphed in countless bloody battles, and her adventures are already legendary. Perhaps being a knight errant is not all that Alanna needs…but Alanna must push her uncertainty aside when she is challenged with the impossible. She must recover the Dominion Jewel, a legendary gem with enormous power for good—but only in the right hands. And she must work fast. Tortall is in terrible danger from all directions, with enemies great and small plotting to destroy everyone and everything Alanna loves.

WELL I FINISHED THE SERIES.

That about sums up this series for me. This will be a shorter review as the book itself is short, and I don’t have too much to say over it.

I didn’t love Alanna’s character by the end. I was totally cool with her finding love and all of that jazz. I’m also fine with her being with multiple people, but I didn’t like the way it went about. I felt she was throwing herself at any guy that came on the page and there was never anything deep between them.

The ship that did last, that I was behind, at least sailed. I’m happy she chose and made up her mind about him because it was about time! I thought he was cute, sweet and was the best match for her. I like that she worked things out with Jon and they were able to come to a working relationship.

I do appreciate how quick these are to read. It would be nice to have a bit more background on people and places, but I think that was the point of this series. Short and quick fantasies. I was able to fly through them in under two days.

I didn’t love the way the bad guy worked out. It was a cliche trope that I think appears too often in novels. I woulds say more, but it would definitely spoil things for everyone. Just know, I was disappointed.

Overall audience notes:

  • Young adult fantasy
  • Language: none
  • Romance: some kisses, mentions of sleeping with each other, but no descriptions
  • Violence: poison, swords, magic, necromancy
  • Trigger warnings: mention of off screen suicides

Instagram || Goodreads