Tag: young adult

Review: The Caged Queen (Iskari #2) by Kristen Ciccarelli

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Rating: ☆☆☆.5
Audience: Young adult fantasy, no language, a little romance, violence
Length: 400 pages
Author: Kristen Ciccarelli
Publisher: Harper Teen
Release Date: September 25th, 2018
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Once there were two sisters born with a bond so strong that it forged them together forever. When they were angry, mirrors shattered, and when they were happy, flowers bloomed. It was a magic they cherished—until the day a terrible accident took Essie’s life and trapped her soul in this world.

Dax—the heir to Firgaard’s throne—was responsible for the accident. Roa swore to hate him forever. But eight years later he returned, begging for her help. He was determined to dethrone his cruel father, under whose oppressive reign Roa’s people had suffered. Roa made him a deal: she’d give him the army he needed if he made her queen.

Together with Dax and his sister, Asha, Roa and her people waged war and deposed a tyrant. But now Asha is on the run, hiding from the price on her head. And Roa is an outlander queen, far from home and married to her enemy. Worst of all: Dax’s promises go unfulfilled. Roa’s people continue to suffer.

Then a chance to right every wrong arises—an opportunity for Roa to rid herself of this enemy king and rescue her beloved sister. During the Reliquishing, when the spirits of the dead are said to return, Roa can reclaim her sister for good.

All she has to do is kill the king.

COMMUNICATION IS KEY.

I was missing a lot from this book, namely DRAGONS. WHERE WERE THE DRAGONS? A few cameos was not enough! That’s why I loved the first book. Along with the dragons missing were Asha and Torwin. I was all for them and thought that maybe they’d play a bigger role.

[Actually, I wished this book had continued their story…]

Rebekah was actually a good evil character, she totally went through with her plans! *applause* My emotions were definitely tied up in how much I hated her bitter, self-serving soul.

Y’all. Dax is my precious cinnamon roll no one will hurt. He was better than our main character: Roa. Dax was not a fool. I loved how conniving and heartfelt each action was. He continually sought a better kingdom and if someone *cough cough* Roa *cough cough* would give him half a second she would’ve seen that from the start.

Now on to Roa. I really dislike when it is SO OBVIOUS that one simple conversation could change the entire course of the book. If Roa seriously asked Dax, Hey what’s up?, we wouldn’t even have a story. She was so focused on Essie (understandably to a point, but also this was her major downfall) and Theo (don’t even get me started on how much I don’t like him). I also have a huge issue with anyone sleeping with someone to gain an advantage. It put me off from her entirely. 

This book wasn’t as epic as the first. I couldn’t fully immerse myself in this new story and unfortunately was an outsider looking in. I know some people were really interested in her character from The Last Namsara. So don’t let this deter you if you’re on of those! Each book can be read as a stand-a-lone or together. It’s still pretty writing that is full of court politics and a friend-to-lovers trope.

Overall audience notes:

  • Young adult fantasy
  • No language
  • Violence (swords, physicality)
  • A love scene that is barely there; an intense kiss or two

The Song of David (The Law of Moses #2) by Amy Harmon

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Rating: ☆☆☆☆
Audience: Young adult contemporary/paranormal, some language, some violence, a bit of romance
Length: 284 pages
Author: Amy Harmon
Publisher: Hyperion Books 
Release Date: June 13th, 2015
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

She said I was like a song. Her favorite song. A song isn’t something you can see. It’s something you feel, something you move to, something that disappears after the last note is played.

I won my first fight when I was eleven years old, and I’ve been throwing punches ever since. Fighting is the purest, truest, most elemental thing there is. Some people describe heaven as a sea of unending white. Where choirs sing and loved ones await. But for me, heaven was something else. It sounded like the bell at the beginning of a round, it tasted like adrenaline, it burned like sweat in my eyes and fire in my belly. It looked like the blur of screaming crowds and an opponent who wanted my blood. 

For me, heaven was the octagon.

Until I met Millie, and heaven became something different. I became something different. I knew I loved her when I watched her stand perfectly still in the middle of a crowded room, people swarming, buzzing, slipping around her, her straight dancer’s posture unyielding, her chin high, her hands loose at her sides. No one seemed to see her at all, except for the few who squeezed past her, tossing exasperated looks at her unsmiling face. When they realized she wasn’t normal, they hurried away. Why was it that no one saw her, yet she was the first thing I saw?

If heaven was the octagon, then she was my angel at the center of it all, the girl with the power to take me down and lift me up again. The girl I wanted to fight for, the girl I wanted to claim. The girl who taught me that sometimes the biggest heroes go unsung and the most important battles are the ones we don’t think we can win.


HAUNTINGLY POIGNANT.

Yet again (and not surprisingly) Amy Harmon has thrown me a book that I couldn’t put down. This book is small, but packs a punch [ooo, pun alert] and I finished this in an evening.

The Song of David is a standalone with a character from the original Law of Moses. David is tough, resilient, and stubbornly hard to handle. Watching his character struggles had me wanting to back-hand him a few times and then cry with him the next. I CAN’T HANDLE HOW SWEET HE IS. 

Millie is a beautiful character. She never takes her trials laying down. Always facing adversity daily as she truly marches through life. I loved watching her take down David’s heart in an achingly masterful way.

Henry is also one of my top favorite side characters from a contemporary. He is funny, gentle and made we want to sob right along with him. He’ll win your heart so fast with his unique ways of viewing the world. 

This book read mostly as a mystery where I seriously could not figure out what happened. My theory changed every chapter and I was getting so upset thinking the WORST had happened. It was skillful story-telling at its finest. These character were raw and real. 

Amy Harmon is also one of my personal Queen’s of the slow burn. Her romances draw you out and leave you breathless. The ending leaves you begging for more answers yet grateful for the story that unfolded beforehand. 

Overall audience notes:

  • Young adult contemporary (with a little paranormal [ghosts])
  • Some language
  • Violence (David is a MMA fighter)
  • Romance is some kissing/make-outs, a love scene (but Harmon is my favorite because these are so beautiful, and cleanly written!!)

ARC Review: Romanov by Nadine Brandes

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Romanov

Rating: ☆☆☆.5
Audience: Young adult historical fiction/fantasy, no language, a lot of violence, a kiss or two
Expected Length: 352 pages
Author: Nadine Brandes
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Expected Release Date: May 17th, 2019
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

From the author of Fawkes comes a magical take on the story of Anastasia Romanov.

The history books say I died.

They don’t know the half of it.

Anastasia “Nastya” Romanov was given a single mission: to smuggle an ancient spell into her suitcase on her way to exile in Siberia. It might be her family’s only salvation. But the leader of the Bolshevik army is after them . . . and he’s hunted Romanov before.

Nastya’s only chances of survival are to either release the spell, and deal with the consequences, or enlist help from Zash, the handsome soldier who doesn’t act like the average Bolshevik. Nastya’s never dabbled in magic before, but it doesn’t frighten her as much as her growing attraction for Zash. She likes him. She thinks he might even like her . . .

That is, until she’s on one side of a firing squad . . . and he’s on the other.

*Note: I received a complimentary copy of this book from Thomas Nelson through Netgalley. Opinions expressed in the review are completely my own. Thank you for the opportunity to read Romanov! Publication date, length, etc. subject to change.

HISTORICALLY MAGICAL.

Second note: some of this may seem like a spoiler, but Brandes does a wonderful job of intertwining history WITH the magical pieces. Anything I bring up historically, really did happen and shouldn’t be a surprise at all. 

I think [know] I let myself get too hyped about this and was a little disappointed overall. It was still a good standalone that had the historic story as the basis with magic woven in so well that I was intrigued from the start! Some kinks left me wanting more.

I read this digitally, so let’s see…it took til 54% through the book to FINALLY GET OUT OF THE HOUSE. I know we’re in exile, but I was dying to see something else in my mind. There wasn’t a lot of world building. I felt that I was expected to know what Russia and these other places looked like already so I missed out on the detailing of it all.

What I found really interesting was how Brandes gave the Romanov’s such humanity. History dictates that this 300+ year old royal line was all kinds of crazy cruel (and that’s putting it lightly). Now, I only know so much, this last group with Nicholas II as tsar could have been a more decent family than I’m aware of. It made me stop and think that all in all, this was a family. And this family was brutally murdered without trial.

This gave the whole family a lot more depth as “characters”. They prayed together, were sincere to their captors, and were only wanting to be released somewhere together. Anastasia was fiercely loyal and protective of her brood. There was a huge emphasis on forgiveness from her character. This ideal repeatedly comes up as she struggles (rightly so) accepting her new fate. 

My biggest loss was the magic system. I have no idea how it works. Very little was ever explained. There’s spell masters, spell ink, some can use it, some can’t, how is it made, can anyone be a spell master, how does this spell work, SOMEONE HELP ME. I am so confused. Since this was the fantasy portion of the book I was looking for a more detailed story-line of why magic was the target of the Red Army in the first place. 

I am frazzled with one piece of the ending and booed at my book when it happened, but besides that this was the best ending for this book. And I mean that in a good way! Since it follows history, there’s an assumption of what could’ve happened. I thought it was sweet and hopeful that fates cards were dealt differently for the Romanov’s than what history served them.

One of my favorite parts of books are the Notes from the author (yes, I totally read those). When fully explained, they can really enhance the book! There was a wonderful explanation of what was true, what wasn’t, and why she made certain creative decisions. It honestly made me like the book even more. I was totally surprised about some pieces actually being true! It helped me better understand the plot and the addition of some characters. 

Overall audience notes:

  • Young adult historical fiction/fantasy
  • No language
  • A little love story that leads to a kiss or two
  • Violence: y’all there is a lot so everyone is aware, it is the Russian Revolution and historically on point; plenty of blood and fairly detailed
  • Trigger warnings: contemplation of suicide, gun violence

Review: A Sorrow Fierce and Falling (Kingdom on Fire #3) by Jessica Cluess

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Rating: some intdeterminate number between 3 & 4
Audience: Young adult, no language, violence, a quad-love
Length: 432 pages
Author: Jessica Cluess
Publisher: Random House
Release Date: October 16th, 2018
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

It’s time for war.

After suffering terrible losses, Henrietta and Lord Blackwood have led their warriors to Sorrow-Fell, a vast estate where only those invited by a Blackwood may enter–and the ideal place to plan a final assault against the Ancients.

It’s time for a wedding.

Henrietta nervously awaits her marriage to Blackwood, but when the ritual to become his bride reveals a dark secret, she realizes that Sorrow-Fell is not a safe haven; it’s a trap. Convincing the sorcerers of this, however, is not easy. So with Maria, the true chosen one, and Magnus, the young man who once stole her heart, at her side, Henrietta plots a dangerous journey straight into the enemy’s lair. Some will live. Some will die. All will be tested.

In this stunning conclusion to the Kingdom on Fire series, Henrietta must choose between the love from her past, the love from her present, and a love that could define her future. While battles rage, the fate of the kingdom rests on her decision: Will she fall or rise up to become the woman who saves the realm?

It’s time for Henrietta to make her stand.

I’M AS INDECISIVE AS HENRIETTA AT THIS POINT.

I think it’s been a long time since I have been so razzled on what my rating should be (and how the review should go) as a whole. I ended up deciding to have an indeterminate number because depending on the day my opinion seems to change. I have so many thoughts over this book.  [If you’ve read this, comment/send e-mail! I’m curious what you thought of it].

First of all, I’ve probably mentioned this before…I rarely ever enjoy a love triangle; it’s probably my most hated trope. And in this case, it was a love…square? I think that’s what we’re calling it. This will be better as a list:

  • Rook — I never liked him honestly, felt he should have been a best friend, never even considered as a lover. He deserved SO MUCH MORE than he got in this book and his portions felt rushed to move the plot and Henrietta’s story along. Some pieces were meant to evoke emotion…but since I didn’t care for him anyways…I really wasn’t disappointed in what happened.
  • Blackwood — He also got the short straw in how his character behaved. I really loved him in the first two books! He’s been my endgame with Henrietta from literally book one. Then in this third book he became more than a “broody Mr. Darcy” type. He leaned towards villain and did things that I didn’t appreciate at all. By the end, I purely felt bad for him. Since he wasn’t in a good section of the book, it yet again felt hurried when he came in to settle things that I became cranky over it.
  • Magnus — the saint of boys…apparently. I’ve really come to enjoy his character over the series too. Sadly, he was a bit bland and never did anything wrong in this book. All past issues forgotten, he’s a man now *shrugs*. His portions with Hen are sweet, and I get it. I think this entire thing could have played out better.
  • Henrietta — because of all said above hills and valleys of the boys she loves because “each kind of love is different”, it really drove Hen’s personality into the ground. She was flighty and non-committal a hundred times over. I’m totally cool with a book presenting that a first love isn’t a true love, but it needs spacing. I [as well as she] need time to accept that first love for what it was THEN move on. Not hop, skip, and run to whoever was showing her the best affection at the time.

There were some twists in this book, THAT WERE SO COMPLETELY UNNECESSARY. Alright, I’m really referring to one I am struggling to accept as a good piece of the story, but there were a few others that weren’t fun either okay? I saw them as a push to complete character arcs that had already burned to ashes in the first place, and adding such tid-bits only frazzled me more.

Note for the entire book: THE CHOSEN ONE DIDN’T DO A DANG THING. [also, if I heard one more character say that…] Y’all we’ve been learning about her for three books. And when it all came down to it, she was there, and did some stuff, but nothing “the chosen one” status. 

I felt like I was reading a hodge-podge of about a hundred different books I’ve read just this year. If you’re paying attention they’re so many elements that are in other current YA series that were thrown in here all willy-nilly!? Nothing was fleshed out because so much crap was added that they were only in the book for a page at best.

Now my ranting may seem like I hated it. Yet, in this weird way that I can’t figure out, it’s what made it a decent book too. The writing is pretty and the concept is different. The overall execution was a whole other story (see all paragraphs before this). I really think most people with LOVE it or HATE it.

Overall audience notes:

  • Young adult, Victorian-era fantasy/historical fiction
  • No language (a feminine derogatory comment is made though)
  • Violence (mostly in the forms of magic; fire, wind, etc.)
  • One love scene, a little descriptive; some kisses and plenty of declarations of love for everyone