Tag: caraval

Book Review

Book Review: Once Upon a Broken Heart (Once Upon a Broken Heart #1) by Stephanie Garber

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Rating: ☆☆☆☆
Audience: YA Fantasy
Length: 408 pages
Author: Stephanie Garber
Publisher: Flatiron
Release Date: September 28th, 2021
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

How far would you go for happily ever after?

For as long as she can remember, Evangeline Fox has believed in true love and happy endings…until she learns that the love of her life will marry another.

Desperate to stop the wedding and to heal her wounded heart, Evangeline strikes a deal with the charismatic but wicked Prince of Hearts. In exchange for his help, he asks for three kisses, to be given at the time and place of his choosing.

But after Evangeline’s first promised kiss, she learns that bargaining with an immortal is a dangerous game—and that the Prince of Hearts wants far more from her than she’d pledged. He has plans for Evangeline, plans that will either end in the greatest happily ever after or the most exquisite tragedy.

A GOOD START.

I admittedly let myself hype this one up because I love Garber’s Caraval series. It did let me down a little, but not enough to even suggest I won’t pick up the next book.

Who did I miss most? JACKS. I felt that he wasn’t in it as much as he should have been as the supposed main love interest. He popped in and out until the second half where I finally saw more of him. There wasn’t enough active chemistry between Jacks and Eva for me to fully be on board. I’m interested, I’m testing the waters, but I’m not convinced they are a romantic duo. A lot remains to be seen.

A bit of a wild story moving all over the Northern lands of the Caraval world. I liked that it was in a different location so that things didn’t overlap with previous characters too much and that this could be its own series. There’s A LOT of lore and little stories throughout to tell the background of what’s happening around Eva and what Jacks is trying to accomplish. It was easy to follow and I love Garber’s writing style. While it wasn’t everything I hoped for, I’m excited to see the story continue. JUST GIVE ME MORE JACKS.

Eva has a lot of growth to hopefully look forward to as well. She just seemed to naïve and trusting of every single person. I’m actually hoping she becomes a bit more bitter and gray to see another side of her.

Overall audience notes:

  • YA Fantasy Romance
  • Language: very little
  • Romance: make-outs
  • Violence: physical altercations, magical attacks
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: murder, blood depiction

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Top 10 Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday: My Favorite [Completed] Trilogies

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I struggled all week trying to come up with a Freebie option for Top Ten Tuesday. After some brain-storming with my sister we came up with…

Top Ten Trilogies [I don’t know if this has been done before since I haven’t been blogging that long, so if it has, oh well]! I think that trilogies are a great length. Enough to add some intrigue, but not so long they start to drag on.

I’m only including series that have been completed and are reading for you to binge NOW (And I’m not counting any novella-based books). That way you don’t have to wait years like I did to finish them. There’s a couple trilogies finishing this year that I am so excited to read and think they might crack this list eventually.

In no particular order…

ACOTAR Series by Sarah J. Maas

Mistborn Series by Brandon Sanderson

Winternight Trilogy by Katherine Arden

The Traitor’s Circle by Erin Beaty

The Winner’s Trilogy by Marie Rutkoski

Caraval Series by Stephanie Garber

The Infernal Devices by Cassandra Clare

The Remnant Chronicles by Mary E. Pearson

The Illuminae Files by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff

Shades of Magic Series by V.E. Schwab

This is a small sample of trilogies that have my heart. These are DEFINITELY all a good place to start.

What’s a favorite trilogy of yours? Any of these on my list?

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Top 10 Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday: Books From My Favorite Genre (Fantasy, of course)

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Okay, I DROPPED THE BALL LAST WEEK AND I AM SO SORRY.

I realized Tuesday afternoon that I never finished my Top Ten Tuesday post, so I am trying my best to get back in it here. I am really ahead of writing reviews (like I have the entire month of June already booked) so remembering to come and write other posts has fallen back a bit.

I’m really excited for this week because FANTASY IS THE BEST GENRE EVERRRR. And in order to try to get some different books added on here I wanted to say:

My top two choices are the A Court of Thorns and Roses and Throne of Glass series by Sarah J. Maas. I will forever love them, rave about my love for them, and try to convince everyone I know to at least give them a chance. I didn’t want to add them to the list today because I wanted to show off some other books I love.

If you want to see something funny and have read ACOTAR check out my Instagram where I have a highlight of my sister’s text conversations as she read them for the first time.

I’m also including the entire series if applicable, because YOU SHOULD READ THEM ALL.

Also, if you’ve read this far, know this is so hard because they’re too many good choices here.

Seven Realms Series by Cinda Williams Chima

The Remnant Chronicles by Mary E. Pearson

Winternight Trilogy by Katherine Adren

The Infernal Devices by Cassandra Clare

Caraval Series by Stephanie Garber

Six of Crows Duology by Leigh Bardugo

The Winner’s Trilogy by Marie Rutkoski

The Bird and the Sword Chronicles by Amy Harmon

The Bone Season Series by Samantha Shannon (still in progress)

Arc of a Scythe Trilogy by Neal Shusterman
(a bit dystopian but enough fantasy to count)

BONUS BECAUSE I’M ON A ROLL:

Falling Kingdom Series by Morgan Rhodes

Have you read any of these series? Any on your TBR? If you’re a fantasy fan what’s a favorite series of yours? I felt like I could go on for days!

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Book Review

Book Review: Finale (Caraval #3) by Stephanie Garber

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Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆ 
Audience: Young adult fantasy
Length: 496 pages
Author: Stephanie Garber
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Release Date: May 7th, 2019
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Welcome, welcome to Finale, the third and final book in the #1 New York Times bestselling Caraval series!

Welcome, welcome to Caraval…all games must come to an end.

It’s been two months since the last Caraval concluded, two months since the Fates have been freed from an enchanted deck of cards, two months since Tella has seen Legend, and two months since Legend claimed the empire’s throne as his own. Now, Legend is preparing for his official coronation and Tella is determined to stop it. She believes her own mother, who still remains in an enchanted sleep, is the rightful heir to the throne.

Meanwhile, Scarlett has started a game of her own. She’s challenged Julian and her former fiancé, Count Nicolas d’Arcy, to a competition where the winner will receive her hand in marriage. Finaly, Scarlett feels as if she is in complete control over her life and future. She is unaware that her mother’s past has put her in the greatest danger of all.

Caraval is over, but perhaps the greatest game of all has begun―with lives, empires, and hearts all at stake. There are no spectators this time: only those who will win…and those who will lose everything…

LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE.

I had to take a few days before writing this review because I loved this book that much. Oh my goodness, PLEASE READ THIS SERIES and thank me later. This is what my carnival + fantasy dreams are made of.

WHAT A FINALE. (yes, I will use this pun without any shame).

Okay, my heart is in a million pieces. What I loved absolute most about this book was how it was entirely focused on love. AND IT WASN’T CHEESY. That I feel is the hardest part of any romance-ish book. Finale was full of love, it controlled the book. Oh, it was so well done. I could gush forever at this one fact.

Now, I know most people love Scarlet, BUT I LOVE TELLA MOST. I love that she’s stubborn and passionate. She’s fiercely loyal and loves with a controlled recklessness that makes me love her even more. I was happy to have her as the main POV (Scarlet was the other one, but only occasionally). Scarlet did grow A LOT in this book. She took control of her own choices and really helped those around her. She showed strength and grace and so much love to those she held dear. I do love Scarlet and Julian though. Julian melts my heart into a tiny thousand pieces. Both Legend and Julian are completely frustrating, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.

I don’t know how many times I squealed or felt like shouting at this book IF LEGEND DIDN’T GET HIS CRAP TOGETHER. Hot dang, that guy was running me ragged. I’ve been #teamlegend from day one. Jacks is great and all, but Legend. LEGEND. Speaking of Jacks, he was this morally gray character that spoke to my soul. He was twisted and in way too deep with Tella. The possessiveness he exhibited made me flip out more than once. The way this all settled left me breathless.

This book was less focused on the games and more on real life. I love the way this adapted over the entire series. This felt like the older and wiser sibling of a book. It really started out as a game, but as life always comes rearing back, Finale remained in the literal world. A lot of mystery and intrigue was left to be solved to save the world before the Fates took over.

I’ll say it again, the ending left me breathless. Y’all. THE ENDING. IT. WAS. EVERYTHING. Perfectly done. A happily ever after I have been dreaming of since Caraval was first released. I now am pleading to the bookish gods for a spin-off starring some of my favs.

Overall audience notes:

  • Young adult fantasy
  • Language: none
  • Romance: lots of kisses
  • Violence: knives, poison, magic

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