Tag: young adult fantasy romance

Book Review: Scales of Ash & Smoke (Ash & Smoke #1) by Emily L. Schneider

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Rating: ★★★
Audience: YA Fantasy Romance
Length: 310 pages
Author: Emily L. Schneider
Publisher: Magic Keepers Press
Release Date: October 5th, 2021
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

She lived her whole life enslaved to the dragons.
But now she’s one of them.
Seventeen-year-old Kaida, a human, has spent her entire life enslaved to the dragons who slaughtered half the human population a thousand years ago. She is forced to serve her ruthless Master, Eklos, until one deadly summer day when the Prince of Elysia saves her life.
Prince Tarrin steals her away to the Royal Palace, shocking Kaida when he reveals that she is mutator formarum.
He promises her safety, but when they uncover a dangerous conspiracy to rid Elysia of the Royal Family, she begins to question how safe she truly is.
And when desire blooms between Kaida and Tarrin, in the midst of fighting for their lives, she must choose whether to save the very creature she swore to hate, or allow him to perish…
And destroy her own heart.

IT WAS OKAY.

Maybe this is better for a younger audience? I don’t know, things didn’t hit all the way for me. Lets get into it.

I am ALWAYS here for a marriage of convenience trope. What I didn’t quite get behind is how quickly the enemies were apparently lovers? For a fantasy that tops out at 300 pages I can see the difficulty in formulating the necessary depth in connections and relationships needed to fully be on board with what was happening.

There’s some decent world building. I didn’t feel confused by the set-up or how the magic worked. It wasn’t fully defined, but at least easy to follow. I loved the concept of dragon shifters and thought that was executed well.

This tried to be dark at times, and while things that were brought up were definitely dark, I don’t know that it fit? The whole overall vibe of the book + what it was trying to accomplish kind of clashed for me. Once again I think it goes back to the depth of connections I was looking for.

I won’t be continuing this series at this time! As it isn’t bringing anything new that I want to pursue.

Overall audience notes:

  • YA Fantasy Romance
  • Language: a little
  • Romance: kisses
  • Violence: high
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: war themes, executions, torture, descriptive and graphic violence, weapons and physical violence, loss of loved ones

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Book Review: A Tournament of Crowns (A Trial of Sorcerers #3) by Elise Kova

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Rating: ★★★★★
Audience: YA Fantasy Romance
Length: 428 pages
Author: Elise Kova
Publisher: Silver Wing Press
Release Date: February 24th, 2023
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

A Royal Tournament. Thrilling Magic. Deadly Mysteries. Slow-Burn Romance.

Last night, Eira killed a man.

However justified her actions were, many now regard her as a cold-blooded murderer and a heretic who extinguished their hope. But there’s no time to explain herself. She barely has a chance to wash the blood off her hands before the Tournament of Five Kingdoms begins.

Sequestered with the other champions for the duration of the tournament, Eira must now navigate the games, her competition, the enemies who hunt her head, and — somehow worse than all the rest — being stuck in close quarters with the man who broke her heart.

All is fair in love and magical tournaments, and Eira is ready for the fight of her life.

Get ready for twists you never saw coming in A Tournament of Crowns. This series is perfect for readers who enjoy young adult, epic fantasy full of elemental magic, slow-burn romance, found family, and battles for the futures of kingdoms set in a world you’ll never want to leave.

Don’t miss a single book in the A Trial of Sorcerers series. Readers should start with A Trial of Sorcerers, and then A Hunt of Shadows, before reading A Tournament of Crowns.

GIMME MORE.

This book was fantastic. I just thoroughly enjoyed reading every page and feel like this was exactly what the series needed to add a little umph.

I looove Eira. and I love her growth. She really puts forth a lot of effort into acknowledging her mistakes and trying to do better. I love how tightly knit her friendships are with Noelle and Alyss and that they work as a TEAM and lean on each other when needed. Good friends never gets old in books.

The romance was young adult angsty. And surprisingly I was here for it all. I liked the give and take. The actual conversations surrounding their true feelings between Cullen and Eira. Even the different ways things went I thought worked. It made sense for the plot and I am expecting even more romantic entanglements in the future.

I thought the setting for this was fun too. It was like the Olympics but make it fantasy. I enjoyed seeing all of the nations together and going through different competitions and the quieter moments where groups started connecting.

This book was just what I needed. I can’t wait to see what happens next.

Overall audience notes:

  • YA Fantasy + Romance
  • Language: a little
  • Romance: kisses
  • Violence: high
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: physical, magical, and weapons violence, loss of loved ones, near death experiences

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Book Review: Together We Burn by Isabel Ibañez

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Rating: ★★★☆
Audience: YA Fantasy Romance
Length: 368 pages
Author: Isabel Ibañez
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Release Date: May 31st, 2022
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Eighteen-year-old Zarela Zalvidar is a talented flamenco dancer and daughter of the most famous Dragonador in Hispalia. People come for miles to see her father fight in their arena, which will one day be hers.

But disaster strikes during their five hundredth anniversary show, and in the carnage, Zarela’s father is horribly injured. Facing punishment from the Dragon Guild, Zarela must keep the arena—her ancestral home and inheritance —safe from their greedy hands. She has no choice but to take her father’s place as the next Dragonador. When the infuriatingly handsome dragon hunter, Arturo Díaz de Montserrat, withholds his help, she refuses to take no for an answer.

But even if he agrees, there’s someone out to ruin the Zalvidar family, and Zarela will have to do whatever it takes in order to prevent the Dragon Guild from taking away her birthright.

An ancient city plagued by dragons. A flamenco dancer determined to save her ancestral home. A dragon hunter refusing to teach her his ways. They don’t want each other, but they need each other, and without him her world will burn.

ALMOST FOUR STARS.

I was really on my way to super enjoying this. I LOVED the setting and cultural aspects. Easily one of my favorite parts of this book. I felt the world come alive with the language, food and cityscape descriptions. There was great writing involved in much of that and the audiobook helped create that tenfold.

Zarela was a main character who I liked as a YA heroine lead. She truly was just trying to do her best in a rough situation. I liked her tenacity to hold on to her family’s legacy and the willingness to learn new things and make tough choices to see everything through. The romance between her and Arturo had the best kind of banter. A bit of enemies to lovers that grew into something more. I do think the steam went a bit past YA levels, but it was still relatively low overall.

What threw me was the villain. I can get behind a lot of background antagonist stories. This one was fine, I’ve seen it before, but what got me was his obsession with claiming Zarela? I don’t want to spoil so I can’t really say much more, it just didn’t click for me.

I’d say this is a pretty solid fantasy for a standalone (which are hard for me to be pleased by). A fast paced read that covers a lot. I can’t believe I almost forgot to mention there’s DRAGONS and flamenco dancing. Lots of incredible things, just a few meh.

Overall audience notes:

  • YA Fantasy Romance
  • Language: a little
  • Romance: brief/vague open door
  • Violence: high
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: loss of parents, kidnapping, animal death and cruelty, murder, misogyny, grief/loss depiction

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Book Review: Twin Crowns (Twin Crowns #1) by Catherine Doyle and Katherine Webber

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Rating: ★★★
Audience: YA Fantasy Romance
Length: 480 pages
Author: Catherine Doyle and Katherine Webber
Publisher: Baizer & Bray
Release Date: May 17th, 2022
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

A high-stakes fantasy rom-com about twin princesses separated at birth—one raised as the crown princess, and the other taken as an infant and raised to kidnap her sister, steal the crown, and avenge the parents’ murders.

Wren Greenrock has always known that one day she would steal her sister’s place in the palace. Trained from birth to return to the place of her parents’ murder and usurp the only survivor, she will do anything to rise to power and protect the community of witches she loves. Or she would, if only a certain palace guard wasn’t quite so distractingly attractive, and if her reckless magic didn’t have a habit of causing trouble…

Princess Rose Valhart knows that with power comes responsibility. Marriage into a brutal kingdom awaits, and she will not let a small matter like waking up in the middle of the desert in the company of an extremely impertinent (and handsome) kidnapper get in the way of her royal duty. But life outside the palace walls is wilder and more beautiful than she ever imagined, and the witches she has long feared might turn out to be the family she never knew she was missing.

Two sisters separated at birth and raised into entirely different worlds are about to get to know each other’s lives a whole lot better. But as coronation day looms closer and they each strive to claim their birthright, the sinister Kingsbreath, Willem Rathborne, becomes increasingly determined that neither will succeed. Who will ultimately rise to power and wear the crown?

AS EXEPCTED.

Admittedly I went into this kind of knowing where I would land and was not swayed to love it more than I did.

This is a younger YA fantasy. Which is usually not a problem, I just didn’t love some of the dialogue and general dynamics and how they were written. The main characters (especially Rose) irked me and took a lot for me to even kind of like the sisters by the end.

The romances are cute. A bit too fast paced and whatnot. I did like them though and think there’s potential for better progress in book two (I think it’s a duology?).

Plot wise, SUPER predictable. And not in that way I generally don’t mind. More so in a way where absolutely nothing was a surprise. Left me with a lot of underwhelming feelings. I do have kind of want to see how book two goes? I’m curious enough to give it a try.

Overall audience notes:

  • YA Fantasy Romance
  • Language: none
  • Romance: make-outs
  • Violence: mild
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: weapons violence, physical altercations, kidnapping, loss of parents, murder

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