ARC Book Review: The Last Tale of the Flower Bride by Roshani Chokshi

February 9, 2023December 15, 2022 GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ★★★
Audience: Magical Realism
Length: 304 pages
Author: Roshani Chokshi
Publisher: William Morrow
Release Date: February 14th, 2023
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

A sumptuous, gothic-infused story about a marriage that is unraveled by dark secrets, a friendship cursed to end in tragedy, and the danger of believing in fairy tales–the breathtaking adult debut from New York Times bestselling author Roshani Chokshi.

Once upon a time, a man who believed in fairy tales married a beautiful, mysterious woman named Indigo Maxwell-Casteñada. He was a scholar of myths. She was heiress to a fortune. They exchanged gifts and stories and believed they would live happily ever after–and in exchange for her love, Indigo extracted a promise: that her bridegroom would never pry into her past.

But when Indigo learns that her estranged aunt is dying and the couple is forced to return to her childhood home, the House of Dreams, the bridegroom will soon find himself unable to resist. For within the crumbling manor’s extravagant rooms and musty halls, there lurks the shadow of another girl: Azure, Indigo’s dearest childhood friend who suddenly disappeared. As the house slowly reveals his wife’s secrets, the bridegroom will be forced to choose between reality and fantasy, even if doing so threatens to destroy their marriage . . . or their lives.

Combining the lush, haunting atmosphere of Mexican Gothic with the dreamy enchantment of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, The Last Tale of the Flower Bride is a spellbinding and darkly romantic page-turner about love and lies, secrets and betrayal, and the stories we tell ourselves to survive.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the ALC.

UNDERWHELMED.

Audiobook review: LOVED the audio. I thought the narrators (hello Steve West, I love you) were great. I didn’t have to switch audio speeds between them and thought it did enhance the story.

I wish I had more to say, but I am feeling completely MEH about this entire book. I have no distinct feelings and that’s saying something on it’s own.

I’m not sure where this book got the idea it’s a romance? But it is not. There’s some undertones and there is a marriage, yet that’s kind of it. This mostly focuses around one POV (that takes place in the past) and how that is affecting the bridegroom in the present. There was kind of a Narnia quality to this with a dark and fairy like overtone.

The writing gives an atmospheric vibe. I can see the gothicness with the spooky house that seems to know all. I didn’t have any complaints about the writing itself, more so, the execution of the plot.

A super toxic friendship that clearly goes predictably south didn’t bring anything new to the table. The set-up leads you to the inevitable conclusion.

Overall audience notes:

Magical Realism
Language: a little strong
Romance: multiple vague to closed door; low innuendo
Violence: medium
Trigger/Content Warnings: adult predation of a child, grooming, bullying, murder

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ARC Book Review: Stealing Infinity (Stolen Beauty #1) by Alyson Noel

July 6, 2022June 30, 2022 GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ★★★☆
Audience: YA Magical Realism / Fantasy + Romance
Length: 480 pages
Author: Alyson Noel
Publisher: Entangled Publishing
Release Date: June 28th, 2022
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

These days, I’ve been killing it when it comes to letting people down. Now I’ve been kicked out of high school, arrested, and accepted into a remote, off-the-grid school owned and operated by an inscrutable billionaire tech guru.

Gray Wolf Academy is looking for a certain kind of student. Ones that no one will miss. Like me.

Then there’s Braxton. The beautiful, oddly anachronistic guy who showed up right when the trouble started. And he’s a total enigma—which means that I definitely can’t trust him, even if there’s something about him that makes me want to.
They all tell me I have a gift. A very rare gift. And Gray Wolf Academy wants me to learn it. To use it. Because if what they say is true, I have all the time in the world.
And that makes me the most dangerous high school student you’ll never know…

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for an audio ARC.

KIND OF INTO IT.

I picked this one up after a lot of hype from Bookstagram friends and I think it did it’s job well. As this was an audiobook ARC I’ll speak to that first, LOVED. No complaints here about the narration or anything. I thought it was wonderful and I was able to listen at a 2.5x – 3x speed easily.

The set-up for this was fun. I liked the time travel aspects and getting to see different facets of history. The school setting wasn’t a big factor (as someone who doesn’t love that setting). It was more in the background to everything else Nat was learning and doing.

I didn’t love the side characters. Some in the context of not great antagonists which came off childish. And others is just that I wanted more! There were many opportunities for some found family moments and I think those should have been capitalized on.

This was somehow upper YA and lower YA all in the same book. The dialogue and personalities leaned towards younger while the themes and some of the scenes (like attempted rape) were definitely in the older group. This clash caused a issue with me finding the right niche for the story overall.

I am intrigued by the plot though and definitely want to continue. I really liked the banter at the beginning of the romance and am curious how that is going to continue to play out. Maybe a love triangle? I’m not sure. BUT I did like what Braxton brought to the table.

Overall audience notes:

YA Magical Realism/Fantasy + Romance
Language: some light
Romance: heated make-outs
Violence: medium
Trigger/Content Warnings: sexual assault, attempted rape, loss of loved ones, near death experiences

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ARC Book Review: Instant Karma by Marissa Meyer

November 2, 2020October 26, 2020 GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ☆☆☆ 1/2
Audience: YA Contemporary Romance / Magical Realism
Length: 400 pages
Author: Marissa Meyer
Publisher: Feiwel &Friends
Release Date: November 3rd, 2020
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

In this young adult contemporary romance, a girl is suddenly gifted with the ability to cast instant karma on those around her—both good and bad.

Chronic overachiever Prudence Daniels is always quick to cast judgment on the lazy, rude, and arrogant residents of her coastal town. Her dreams of karmic justice are fulfilled when, after a night out with her friends, she wakes up with the sudden ability to cast instant karma on those around her. Pru giddily makes use of the power, punishing everyone from public vandals to karaoke hecklers, but there is one person on whom her powers consistently backfire: Quint Erickson, her slacker of a lab partner and all-around mortal enemy. Soon, Pru begins to uncover truths about Quint, her peers, and even herself that reveal how thin the line is between virtue and vanity, generosity and greed . . . love and hate.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the audio book in exchange for a review. All opinions are my own!

IT WAS CUTE.

Since I read this an audio book ARC, I wanted to mention my thoughts on the audio. I thought the narrator was great and found it to be easy listening. I kept it at 1.5x – 1.75x depending on what I was doing at the time while listening. Definitely would recommend reading it as an audio book if you enjoy that option!

I love Marissa Meyer’s books. I am a big fan of her fantasy books. Reading her first contemporary romance? ALL OVER IT.

This was a cute Beatles-inspired young adult romance. I loved the beach setting and marine ecology aspects. It felt relevant without being pushy and I learned a lot just from the setting alone. There was knowledge of rescuing, rehabilitating and releasing multiple marine animals and the center goes about achieving their ultimate goal of getting these animals back to the wild.

Prudence was our dear main character. Oh, how I struggled with her for 80% of the book. I kept expecting some more character growth from her, but felt it happened too close to the end. She leaned towards selfish and so completely single-mindedly focused that I wanted to jump in the book and tell her what she’s missing. With all of the damage done before getting to some evolution in her character it became a bit of a let down.

Quint was precious. And I’m genuinely amazed he was cool with Prudence being rude to him over and over again. I loved his interactions and banter. Quint had a great back story and was clearly devoted to helping the sea creatures in his care. I loved his nature and passion.

I did love their initial at last they kissed moment. It came at the right time and was sweet. I would have loved a longer ending with more of them because by the time I was really feeling it, the ending had arrived.

It’s overall a fun book and I’m happy that I read it. I love Meyer’s writing and will continue to read all the books by her. I’m also hoping for maybe more books with Pru’s brother, Jude (who I adored) and maybe even her friends? I thought there was some open options for more contemporaries in this world and I would love to read those too.

Overall audience notes:

Young adult contemporary romance
Language: very little and light
Romance: kisses
Violence: injured sea animals that washed ashore, someone breaking their leg from a fall

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Book Review: The Kingdom of Back by Marie Lu

August 20, 2020April 6, 2020 GoodeyReads2 Comments

Rating: ☆☆☆
Audience: YA Historical Fiction / Magical Realism
Length: 336 pages
Author: Marie Lu
Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s Sons
Release Date: March 3rd, 2020
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Two siblings. Two brilliant talents. But only one Mozart.

Born with a gift for music, Nannerl Mozart has just one wish–to be remembered forever. But even as she delights audiences with her masterful playing, she has little hope she’ll ever become the acclaimed composer she longs to be. She is a young woman in 18th century Europe, and that means composing is forbidden to her. She will perform only until she reaches a marriageable age–her tyrannical father has made that much clear.

And as Nannerl’s hope grows dimmer with each passing year, the talents of her beloved younger brother, Wolfgang, only seem to shine brighter. His brilliance begins to eclipse her own, until one day a mysterious stranger from a magical land appears with an irresistible offer. He has the power to make her wish come true–but his help may cost her everything.

In her first work of historical fiction, #1 New York Times bestselling author Marie Lu spins a lush, lyrically-told story of music, magic, and the unbreakable bond between a brother and sister.

A BIT DULL.

I did a buddy-read for this and I think that was more interesting and fun than this book was.

The writing was gorgeous and easy to follow. That was never my issue, I didn’t click with the story as a whole. Magical realism + historical fiction are a hard combination to mix. I usually don’t like them, and this was no different. I found it a unique premise and clearly saw the effort put into this. A lot of research into Mozart’s history was accomplished to make this book what it was. I would have loved a historical fiction based off of Mozart’s life without the fantasy aspects.

I mostly felt disconnected from the story. I did feel some depth with Nannerl and truly saddened by her inability to stand and do what she wanted just because she was a woman (with respect to the time period). She didn’t really ever do anything about this though, which I guess as I’m writing this, falls in line with the historical aspects (based off of the author’s note, not my own research).

It was a younger YA than I was thinking and honestly it needed some more flair for me to be into it. With the characters mostly very young the entire book it wasn’t like they could do much anyways (other than practice the claiver). I was underwhelmed and sped read to get through it. I struggled to even write more for this review because I don’t feel like I have anything to say about it.

Overall audience notes: