Tag: young adult

Book Review: The Gilded Wolves (The Gilded Wolves #1) by Roshani Chokshi

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Rating: ☆☆☆☆
Audience: YA Historical Fantasy
Length: 388 pages
Author: Roshani Chokshi
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Release Date: January 15th, 2019
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

No one believes in them. But soon no one will forget them.

It’s 1889. The city is on the cusp of industry and power, and the Exposition Universelle has breathed new life into the streets and dredged up ancient secrets. Here, no one keeps tabs on dark truths better than treasure-hunter and wealthy hotelier Séverin Montagnet-Alarie. When the elite, ever-powerful Order of Babel coerces him to help them on a mission, Séverin is offered a treasure that he never imagined: his true inheritance.

To hunt down the ancient artifact the Order seeks, Séverin calls upon a band of unlikely experts: An engineer with a debt to pay. A historian banished from his home. A dancer with a sinister past. And a brother in arms if not blood.

Together, they will join Séverin as he explores the dark, glittering heart of Paris. What they find might change the course of history–but only if they can stay alive.

WENT IN NERVOUS, WALKED OUT HAPPY.

I feel like the hype for this book was ALL OVER THE PLACE. I couldn’t scroll down my Instagram feed without seeing a photo and hearing about the hype. And because of that I instead let myself sit on it for a few months. Then, my library got a digital copy, nobody had it checked out so I gave it a chance. This turned out sooo much better than I thought and I found myself really loving it overall.

I was enraptured from the beginning with the historical aspects of everything. I LOVE HISTORICAL FANTASIES. It combines my two favorite genres into spell-binding stories. The setting was (Paris – 1889) unique from most books I’ve read. A lot of research went into this. So much research that at times I felt it was a bit dense. I couldn’t wrap my head around all of the mathematics problems throughout. The historical pieces were easy to follow, but hard to grasp all together. There was an intense amount of information thrown at you about how the world worked. It was substantially more than I bargained for which is why I settled on four stars. I didn’t think it needed everything it presented to still be stellar. Even more so, I still have no idea how the magic system fully works.

With all of those complications the way it was woven it was really cool. I was amazed at how the characters, organizations, and the world itself were put together. So while a bit of an enigma, also super fascinating and impressive. This was my first Chokshi book and I’m glad this was the one I picked up!

The characters though, what an amazing, diverse, witty group. I was nervous going in having heard that it’s similar to Leigh Bardugo’s, Six of Crows. Yes, the similarities are there, but each member of this family is vastly different. The representation in this book was incredible! It made the book stand out [in the best way]. I intensely loved watching all of their interactions with each other. This book was focused more on the heist and these friendships rather than relationships (but don’t you worry, some of that is in there too!). Fantastic banter that would make me smile and moments where I wanted to hug everyone brought this home for me.

Overall audience notes:

  • Young adult historical fiction fantasy
  • Language: very little
  • Romance: some kisses, some tension, & remembering some dalliances
  • Violence: poison, physical, mental (through magic)
  • Trigger warnings: bullying, racism, child abuse

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Top Ten Tuesday: Fantasy Book Series That NEED to Be a Movie (Page to Screen Freebie)

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We live in an amazing day and age where CGI is actually worth our time. The technology advances towards movies has jumped leaps and bounds.

That’s why I declare that these ten series (or standalone) NEED TO BE A MOVIE. As someone who doesn’t watch movies (no really, my husband is amazed at how often I will watch a movie — which is to say, once every 6 months, at least) I put a lot of stock in choosing ones worth my time.

THESE WOULD BE WORTH MY TIME. If they were exactly. like. the. book.

Okay, let’s get started. Happy Top Ten Tuesday y’all!

A Court of Thorns and Roses Series by Sarah J. Maas

Throne of Glass Series by Sarah J. Maas

Caraval Series by Stephanie Garber

Mistborn Series by Brandon Sanderson

Arc of a Scythe Series by Neal Shusterman

Final book, The Toll, coming soon.

The Daevabad Trilogy by S.A. Chakraborty

Final book, The Empire of Gold, coming 2020.

Winternight Trilogy by Katherine Arden

Strange the Dreamer Duology by Laini Taylor

The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

Have you read any of these? Which do you think should be a movie too? Lets talk in the comments. Happy Tuesday!

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Book Tag Saturday: Night and Day Tag

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I wasn’t formally tagged in this, but I found it on Kristin’s Site (Kristin Kraves Books) and thought it would be fun to do for this week! I love her page, definitely make sure you’re following her!

Hope you enjoy the answers. Have a great weekend!

Do you read more in the morning or at night?

Lately it’s been at night. After the babe (+my husband) have gone to bed I snuggle in for a few hours and read whatever book I’m currently reading.

Are there any books that changed the way you thought about things?

Oh, I feel like every other book I read does that to me. For instance, I finished The Simple Wild last night (or a few nights ago at the posting of this tag) and it made me consider a lot about my relationships with my loved ones. It doesn’t have to be non-fiction to cause a change in thought. But I’ve ready plenty of non-fiction (i.e. When Breath Becomes Air) that also has changed my thoughts about life.

YA or not?

ALL DAY. That’s what I mostly read. I don’t think anyone is too old to enjoy a good story, regardless of it’s “target audience.” I love reading YA and I will do so for the foreseeable future.

Are there characters that you honestly believe are real?

Not really. Are there characters I wish that were real? DEFINITELY. Especially in fantasy. But I’m also very aware that we don’t have *that* kind of magic happening in the real world.

In contemporaries and such, I don’t necessarily believe the characters are real. Though, since it is real life I can better believe that something like that could happen.

Nobody touches my books or I don’t mind loaning my books out?

Loan them to everyone (mostly). I actually have a few right now that are out with friends. it makes my heart unbelievably happy when a friend asks if they can borrow a book. OF COURSE YOU CAN. It’s like letting them take a tiny piece of my bookish soul.

Do you ever smell your books?

Eh, no. If I open a box and the scent wafts out, sure. But I don’t go up to my books and sniff them.

Not everyone loves books…is this a positive or negative?

Positive! I do secretly believe that there is a book for everyone, buuuut I know not everyone likes reading. AND THAT’S OKAY. Different interests and passions are what keeps ideas flowing in the universe.

Gosh, I have too many books! True or False?

False. I know I have around 300 books, but honestly it hasn’t grown much since 2016. I really dialed back how much I buy and y’all. Have you seen bookstgram? Some of those shelves have close to 1,000 books and I’m sitting here stunned by that fact. I think I would be overwhelmed if I had *that many*.

Have you ever spilled or stained books before with something, if so how?

With water, usually a few drops. I can’t remember the last time I full-on damaged a book though. *crosses fingers* I SHOULDN’T HAVE SAID THAT.

Toned or untoned? In other words, do you read and workout at the same time?

I do! If I’m on a cardio machine I will bring my book (in whatever format) and read while I’m running, biking, etc. I love how quickly it passes the time. I’ll listen to an audiobook occasionally as well, but when I lift I usually need a song to power through.

Since I wasn’t formally tagged, I’m not tagging anyone. So feel free to do this (and tag me in your answers if you’d like too!). What are some of your answers to these questions? Lets talk in the comments!

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Book Review: Storm Siren (Storm Siren #1) by Mary Weber

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Rating: ☆☆☆ 1/2
Audience: YA Fantasy
Length: 333 pages
Author: Mary Weber
Publisher: Thomas Nelson/HarperCollins
Release Date: August 19th, 2014
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

“I raise my chin as the buyers stare. Yes. Look. You don’t want me. Because, eventually, accidentally, I will destroy you.”

In a world at war, a slave girl’s lethal curse could become one kingdom’s weapon of salvation. If the curse—and the girl—can be controlled.

As a slave in the war-weary kingdom of Faelen, seventeen-year-old Nym isn’t merely devoid of rights, her Elemental kind are only born male and always killed at birth — meaning, she shouldn’t even exist.

Standing on the auction block beneath smoke-drenched mountains, Nym faces her fifteenth sell. But when her hood is removed and her storm-summoning killing curse revealed, Nym is snatched up by a court advisor and given a choice: be trained as the weapon Faelen needs to win the war, or be killed.

Choosing the former, Nym is unleashed into a world of politics, bizarre parties, and rumors of an evil more sinister than she’s being prepared to fight . . . not to mention the handsome trainer whose dark secrets lie behind a mysterious ability to calm every lightning strike she summons.

But what if she doesn’t want to be the weapon they’ve all been waiting for?

Set in a beautifully eclectic world of suspicion, super abilities, and monsters, Storm Siren is a story of power. And whoever controls that power will win.

CONFUSED BY MY THOUGHTS.

I have left this review sitting around for about a week now because I couldn’t decide if it worse or better than I thought. I will say this book got better the further I got into it, but also, why does someone want to wait 200 pages to enjoy a book?

I appreciated the way Nym and Eogan’s (Wow, I don’t like that name) relationship built. There was a bit of an enemies to lovers piece. I was freaked out there was a love triangle flying in, but NEVER FEAR, it was nothing. The bugger from Nym though was that she could not stop talking about how attractive he was. I hate when this is repetitively added to books. They’re more things to think about Nym!

Speaking of no love triangle, Nym’s’ friendship with Colin was stellar. I was practically more invested in that at times. They were a fun pair to watch and had great banter and chemistry (friendistry).

One thing I could not wrap my head around was how the girl with all the powers (and she really could destroy a place) was the one not destroying all those who sought to control her!? I guess I was looking for a bada** type, but got a lackluster I don’t want to be used as a weapon character. You don’t have to be a weapon Nym, OWN THE ELEMENTAL POWER.

There were rotating villains in here, but Adora was the worst of all (not in a good way). I found her silly outfits laughable and her whole demeanor a farce. The real wickedness didn’t show up til the last few chapters and that’s the leg this series needs to stand on.

I missed all of the world-building and politicking I’m used to reading in fantasy. For instance, there were multiple animals in here and I couldn’t tell you what they actually looked like. Nothing was ever described enough to paint a picture. And all of the politics were behind closed doors where Nym never bothered to listen to. This made a lot of decisions by other characters seem empty.

I will say, there was a solid plot twist or two at the end. Where I even wrote in my notes: HOLY PLOT TWIST BATMAN. Reading like every other YA fantasy book left me begging for from the story. That ending has me debating picking up book two though. I’ll keep you posted.

Overall audience notes:

  • Language: none
  • Romance: a kiss
  • Violence: knives, physical, magical
  • Trigger warnings: slavery

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