REVIEW: The Queen’s Resistance – Rebecca Ross

March 19, 2019March 15, 20193 Comments

Title: The Queen’s Resistance (The Queen’s Rising #2)
Author: Rebecca Ross
Rating: ★★★★

The Queen’s Rising was such a quietly impressive debut last year and so this book was one of the sequels I was most anticipating. Everyone I loved about the first book was also present in The Queen’s Resistance: the visual writing, the lovely characters, and the compelling storytelling create such a marvelous and unique YA fantasy!

The biggest difference between this book and the first is that Ross adds a second character point of view. The probably that typically occurs when a POV is added in the middle of the series is that it does nothing to the story. However, I loved the inclusion of Cartier’s chapters. Not only was the addition of his POV expertly executed, but it really added to the narrative and helped move the plot along.

Speaking of plot, there is so much more going on in this book! The Queen’s Resistance was a lot faster paced and it was very easy to find myself lost amongst the pages. I really loved the continued worldbuilding (especially all the Irish elements!) and the large focus on found families. Brienna continues to have a small spot in my heart – not only because her name is the closest any MC has had to mine – but also because she’s a wonderful, smart heroine you can’t help but to root for.

The Queen’s Rising is a seriously underrated series that I cannot recommend enough! Rebecca Ross has a special way with words and the beautiful story she has created deserves much more hype.

REVIEW: The Devouring Gray – Christine Lynn Herman (ARC)

March 14, 2019March 13, 20196 Comments

Title: The Devouring Gray (The Devouring Gray #1)
Author: Christine Lynn Herman
Rating: ★★★★½

ARC received through #booksfortrade on Twitter.

The Devouring Gray is a release I’ve been looking forward to for quite a while, and I super thankful I was able to get my hands on an early copy! This spellbinding book is full of supernatural spookiness with a lot of Riverdale + Stranger Things vibes and I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it.

The Devouring Gray is completely atmospheric. The vivid descriptions really brought forth the creepy elements and made it easy to become immersed in the story. The plot follows the founding families of Four Paths, and how they use their gifts to protect the town from the Gray. The types of magic the families possess were dark and mysterious, and I loved the gothic vibes.

The story is told through three POVs, but there are arguably four main characters. I was that invested in the characters to begin with, but I changed opinion by the end and came to really like them all. Usually if I don’t connect with the characters, I tend not to like the book, but the plot and writing were so good it was easy to overlook. The romances are very subtle, and while I didn’t like either of the pairings at first, they did begin to grow on me by the end. I’m looking forward to the next book and the continued growth of these characters and their complex relationships with each other!

BLOG TOUR: An Affair of Poisons – ARC Review

March 6, 2019February 25, 20197 Comments

Welcome to my stop on the An Affair of Poisons book tour! Thank you to Fantastic Flying Book Club for organizing the tour and allowing me to participate as a tour host!

ABOUT THE BOOK

Title: An Affair of Poisons
Author: Addie Thorley
Release: February 26, 2019
Publisher: Page Street Kids
Genre: YA Fantasy, Historical Fiction

After unwittingly helping her mother poison King Louis XIV, seventeen-year-old alchemist Mirabelle Monvoisin is forced to see her mother’s Shadow Society in a horrifying new light: they’re not heroes of the people, as they’ve always claimed to be, but murderers. Herself included. Mira tries to ease her guilt by brewing helpful curatives, but her hunger tonics and headache remedies cannot right past wrongs or save the dissenters her mother vows to purge.

Royal bastard Josse de Bourbon is more kitchen boy than fils de France. But when the Shadow Society assassinates the Sun King and half the royal court, he must become the prince he was never meant to be in order to save his injured sisters and the petulant Dauphin. Forced to hide in the derelict sewers beneath the city, any hope of reclaiming Paris seems impossible—until Josse’s path collides with Mirabelle’s, and he finds a surprising ally in his sworn enemy.

She’s a deadly poisoner. He’s a bastard prince. Together, they form a tenuous pact to unite the commoners and former nobility against the Shadow Society. But can a rebellion built on mistrust ever hope to succeed?

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes and Noble | Book Depository | Kobo

REVIEW

ARC provided by the publisher through NetGalley.

When I first read the synopsis for this book, I was extremely intrigued. I wasn’t sure what I should expect going into this, and honestly those expectations were not high. An Affair of Poisons proved me wrong in the most wonderful way: I absolutely adored this book so much more than I thought I would.

The first word that comes to mind when in describing An Affair of Poisons is fun. There are a lot of things to love about this book. Female alchemists? Yep. A broody, bastard prince? Check. Enemies to lovers romance? You got it. The writing is completely compelling and the fast-paced, interesting plot easily keeps the reader entertained. The plot is full of magic, murder scandals, and mayhem; all set in a historical French setting and based on real historical events (see: L’affaire des poisons). The story Addie Thorley has created is so imaginative and well-crafted. A lot of time, effort, and research went into creating this book and it easily shows.

An Affair of Poisons was the alternate YA historical fiction story that I didn’t know I needed. I really enjoyed this unique and fascinating twist on historical events and the characters that were written to perfection. I’m looking forward to whatever Addie Thorley has up her sleeve next!

★ ★ ★ ★

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

UjK2WlPw Addie Thorley spent her childhood playing soccer, riding horses, and scribbling stories. After graduating from the University of Utah with a degree in journalism, she decided “hard news” didn’t contain enough magic and kissing, so she flung herself into the land of fiction and never looked back.

She now lives in Princeton, New Jersey with her husband, daughter, and wolf dog, and when she’s not writing she can be found gallivanting in the woods or galloping around the barn where she works as a horse trainer and exercise rider. AN AFFAIR OF POISONS is her debut novel.

Website | Goodreads | Twitter

FOLLOW THE TOUR

March 5 | The Unofficial Addiction Book Fan Club

March 6 | Paws and Paperbacks
March 6 | Tale Out Loud
March 6 | Moonlight Rendezvous

March 7 | GingerSnapHattie
March 7 | Nicole’s Novel Reads
March 7 | Wishful Endings

March 8 | Dazzled by Books
March 8 | A Book Addict’s Bookshelves
March 8 | Bibliobibuli YA

March 9 | Magical Reads
February 9 | String of Pages
March 9 | Confessions of a YA Reader

March 10 | Book Princess Reviews
March 10 | The Clever Reader
March 10 | A Dream Within A Dream

March 11 | Camillea Reads
March 11 | Girl in the Pages
March 11 | Adventures Thru Wonderland

Monthly Wrap-Up: February 2019

February 28, 2019February 27, 201910 Comments

Is it just me or did February fly by? It’s probably just me because I’ve been so busy. In case you are wondering how nursing school is going, this month alone I had twelve exams 😅 Yes, TWELVE. Because of classes and work, you can see that I read way less this month than I usually do. I’ve also been feeling really unmotivated to read anything the last couple of weeks which I think is due to my lack of energy. Fingers crossed that I have a better reading month in March!

A CURSE SO DARK AND LONELY: When I first saw that this was a modern-day Beauty and the Beast retelling, I was super excited but I wasn’t sure what to expect. I was a little unsure about it at first, but as I read on I ended up really enjoying it! The retelling was really unique and different and I look forward to the companion novel. ★★★★

THE WAKING FOREST: This had such an interesting premise, and the book itself was so atmospheric and eerie. The writing is something that readers are either going to love or hate. For myself, I found the beautiful prose and lush descriptions the perfect compliment to the two enchanting stories already being told. The way the author weaves two different stories together seamlessly made for a very unique story. ARC provided by the publisher through NetGalley. [review] ★★★½

99 PERCENT MINE: I was so excited for this book, but ultimately I was left disappointed. I like the idea of the story but not the way in which it was executed. I think my biggest problem was Darcy, our protagonist. I really did not like her at all, and I had issues with the way she acted a few times. I also had trouble feeling the tension between Darcy and Tom. I was expecting a smart, steamy book full of angst and ended with a lukewarm story. ★★★

AN AFFAIR OF POISONS: I absolutely adored this book so much more than I thought I would. The first word that comes to mind when in describing this is fun. The writing is completely compelling and the fast-paced, interesting plot easily keeps the reader entertained. The plot is full of magic, murder scandals, and mayhem; all set in a historical French setting and based on real historical events (see: L’affaire des poisons). The story Addie Thorley has created is so imaginative and well-crafted. A lot of time, effort, and research went into creating this book and it easily shows. ARC provided by the publisher through NetGalley. ★★★★

ISLE OF BLOOD AND STONE: This is definitely one of the most underhyped YA fantasies, and now I can say with the utmost certainty that it deserves way more recognition than it gets. It contained the perfect blend of adventure, mystery, hints of romance, and steady pacing to captivate me as a reader. The backstory and character histories were written in a way that it felt completely natural: I knew exactly what was going on without having piles of information dumped on me. [review] ★★★★

LAST OF HER NAME: Okay, I was honestly not expecting to love this as much as I did (that seems to be the running theme). This was such a really fun and cool sci-fi story based on the story of Anastasia and the last Romanovs. There were a few plot twists that were totally unexpected and completely surprising which made the book even more entertaining! ARC provided by the publisher. ★★★★

BLOODLEAF: Have you ever read a book and felt like you’ve read it before? That’s exactly how reading this book went for me. Unfortunately, it was nothing new. It followed many of the same tropes and cliches as half of the other YA fantasies out there. This is supposed to be a loose retelling of Goose Girl, but there aren’t many of those elements present, and I think it could have been written in a way that was much more compelling and interesting. ARC provided by the publisher. ★★★

BEWARE THE NIGHT: I just felt so unmotivated to read this and completely uninvested in the plot, story, or characters. ARC provided by the publisher through NetGalley. DNF @ 42%

OTHER

REVIEW: Isle of Blood and Stone – Makiia Lucier

February 25, 2019February 27, 20196 Comments

Title: Isle of Blood and Stone (Tower of Wind #1)
Author: Makiia Lucier
Rating: ★★★★

Isle of Blood and Bone was one of the most underhyped releases last year, and now that I’ve finally got around to reading it, I can say with the utmost certainty that it deserves way more recognition than it gets. Want to read an excellent (standalone) YA fantasy done right? Read this book.

While this book isn’t super action-packed, Isle of Blood and Bone delivers such an interesting premise with that it was very easy to find myself lost in the pages. It contained the perfect blend of adventure, mystery, hints of romance, and steady pacing to captivate me as a reader. The backstory and character histories were written in a way that it felt completely natural: I knew exactly what was going on without having piles of information dumped on me. The little plot twists were cleverly placed to create suspense, yet remain believable. I also thought the ending wrapped up really nicely and the epilogue was definitely a perfect fit for the story.

I cannot get over how severely underrated this book is. I really enjoyed Isle of Blood and Bone and I’m really looking forward to reading the companion novel later this year!