Broken Things

Broken Things by Lauren Oliver

I've previously read Delirium, Pandemonium, Requiem, and Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver. I think her work is mostly interesting and usually brings a different element about the more traditional themes of a familiar storyline.

I digress, an amazon summary, "With all the intensity and whiplash turns of Sharp Objects and One of Us Is Lying, this engrossing psychological thriller by New York Times bestselling author Lauren Oliver is an unforgettable, mesmerizing tale of exquisite obsession, spoiled innocence, and impossible friendships.

It’s been five years since Summer Marks was brutally murdered in the woods.

Everyone thinks Mia and Brynn killed their best friend. That driven by their obsession with a novel called The Way into Lovelorn the three girls had imagined themselves into the magical world where their fantasies became twisted, even deadly.

The only thing is: they didn’t do it.

On the anniversary of Summer’s death, a seemingly insignificant discovery resurrects the mystery and pulls Mia and Brynn back together once again. But as the lines begin to blur between past and present and fiction and reality, the girls must confront what really happened in the woods all those years ago—no matter how monstrous." AMAZON LINK OF JUSTICE

This is told between two narrators, some passage excerpts, and also past/present.

There's original three girls; Summer, Mia, and Brynn. Summer was murdered one summer, and Mia, Brynn, as well as her boyfriend or friend depending on who you ask, Owen, were the top suspects for her murder. The town turned against the surviving girls and accused them of murder, but nothing could be proven. 

The story unwinds to reveal the very close relationship all three girls seemed to share, and also where Mia and Brynn wound up five years after Summer died.

There was also a book that they were all obsessed with, but Summer was the most obsessed with it. However, there's something that kind of triggers them into going back and really trying to figure out what happened to Summer.

That's enough summary.

The book was interesting and all that jazz, but there was a huge theme right at the beginning, so this isn't a spoiler, but the book they were obsessed with ended mid-sentence and drove them nuts. They were obsessed with why the book ended they way they did, and were trying to write a sequel.

But like, my people, I kind of feel like this book was written in angle that kind of really broke into the premise of ending a story mid sentence and also what a story really is... the rest of it was good, like mystery, murder, solving a cold case crime thing and seeing all the horror that negative press can harm someone's life... but like they didn't need the philosophical, but what do stories, MEAN kind of moments. 

It was interesting, I wasn't expecting who the actual villain was, and the pacing of the book was pretty great. 

...but that philosophy angle. But why.

Happy reading!

Beneath the Citadel

Beneath the Citadel by Destiny Soria

The thing is, the back of the book has an excerpt from the book. One of the characters makes a remark about maybe being immortal...as they're sentenced to death. ...but I did mark this book as unreadable, as I gave up halfway through.

Also, that cover. It's all cool like. I'm a sucker for a good cover.

An amazon summary, "In the city of Eldra, people are ruled by ancient prophecies. For centuries, the high council has stayed in power by virtue of the prophecies of the elder seers. After the last infallible prophecy came to pass, growing unrest led to murders and an eventual rebellion that raged for more than a decade.  In the present day, Cassa, the orphaned daughter of rebels, is determined to fight back against the high council, which governs Eldra from behind the walls of the citadel. Her only allies are no-nonsense Alys, easygoing Evander, and perpetually underestimated Newt. Cassa struggles to come to terms with the legacy of rebellion her dead parents have left her, and the fear that she may be inadequate to shoulder the burden. But by the time Cassa and her friends uncover the mystery of the final infallible prophecy, it may be too late to save the city—or themselves." AMAZON LINK OF JUSTICE 

Alright, so this story has five rotating narrators. It sets itself up as interesting as the city is controlled by prophecies. The high council catches people and they're never seen again. ...seems really Minority Report, right? Right. 

The story unfolds where four of the narrators have been captured by the council and are being sentenced to death. They're stuck in jail, and they slowly start to show different abilities and strengths as they start to escape. Then, on their way out of escaping the prison, they run into a man. He tells them a bunch of basically impossible things and sends them on their way.

They escape, they talk a lot about their parents and the efforts of the rebellion. But, I was tapped out. All of them thought about themselves as if they were a subject matter in school to be evaluated and they had to write a report. When they started talking about their sexuality in clinical terms in an off handed manner, that's when I put the book down. I'm all for diversity, and having a broad spectrum of characters, representation is legitimately great, but, it's kind of awful when they feel like dull, lifeless cardboard cutouts of something that could be good.

I wish the characters had been more realistic, because the rest of the story seemed like it was going to be interesting.

Happy reading!

Suitors and Sabotage

Suitors and Sabotage by Cindy Anstey

I'm going to get oddly specific for a moment, but did you ever watch the roughly six hour mini series version of Pride & Prejudice? I cheated and looked it up on imdb; it came out in 1995, and it's basically the show where I fell in love with Colin Firth. Because, Colin Firth. C'mon people!

Anyways, this book reminds me a lot of that, just with less siblings and suitors. Kind of.

An amazon summary, "Two young people must hide their true feelings for each other while figuring out who means them harm in this cheeky Regency romance from the author of Love, Lies and Spies and Duels & Deception.

Shy aspiring artist Imogene Chively has just had a successful Season in London, complete with a suitor of her father's approval. Imogene is ambivalent about the young gentleman until he comes to visit her at the Chively estate with his younger brother in tow. When her interest is piqued, however, it is for the wrong brother.

Charming Ben Steeple has a secret: despite being an architectural apprentice, he has no drawing aptitude. When Imogene offers to teach him, Ben is soon smitten by the young lady he considers his brother's intended.

But hiding their true feelings becomes the least of their problems when, after a series of "accidents," it becomes apparent that someone means Ben harm. And as their affection for each other grows―despite their efforts to remain just friends―so does the danger. . .

In Suitors and Sabotage, author Cindy Anstey delivers another witty young adult historical fiction novel that is the perfect mix of sweetly romantic and action-packed." AMAZON LINK OF JUSTICE

This definitely takes place back in the days of seasons in London, so somewhat ambiguously around the 18th century I would say. They actually have dates in the book, but I rigorously ignored them because I'm awful. ...well really, because I hate reading anything that resembles a diary format because I will never believe that anyone can remember pages and pages of dialogue. I just cannot. I digress, it's mostly irrelevant.

Imogene has just returned from her season in London and has managed to snag a gentleman suitor, Ernest. Ernest has requested to visit the Chively estate with his younger brother Ben, to see if himself and Imogene would be a match for marriage. Imogene's best friend, Emily, has also come to stay. There are other family friends about and siblings and what not, but lets concentrate on the main characters.

Imogene is very shy but Ben manages to start bringing her out of her shell. Ernest is well, rather straight forward but also desperately trying to win over Imogene's heart. Meanwhile, Emily has fallen rather entranced with Ben and is very convinced of his affections, but Imogene wonders if Ben's affections are actually for herself, or rather if she actually loves Ben and not Ernest.

During all of this, a series of slightly unfortunate events begins to occur, and Imogene and Emily blame it on Imogene's brother and the family friend, but the incidents are not always in line with their usually modus operandi (MO).

That's enough summary.

This book was very, well dramatic but undramatic. There wasn't a lot of action despite the various incidents, but there was a lot of waffling hearts and wondering about the world at large. It was actually a very serious and sympathetic book with points of light hearted humor but also kind of slice of life moments. I also thought it was very interesting that we learned about all the young adults parents in the manner of reading how they were treated, besides the few times that Imogene pointed out her father was not really all that great.

The setting and scenery were all very well included, and the tone of the writing definitely placed you in the 18th century somewhere (I know they literally told us, but again, I must stubbornly ignore or else I would not have read the book). 

There were a few points where I definitely rolled my eyes and wondered why I was still reading the book, but when I finished the book, I definitely had that like deeply satisfied Cheshire cat grin on my face since I knew I had read a great story.

There was no sex, no fist fights, no anything over the top action dramatics, but it was still a good story, very wholesome. Which is probably why it reminded me so much of that Pride and Prejudice mini series. It was good.

Happy reading!

City of Ghosts

City of Ghosts by Victoria Schwab

This book was published on August 28, 2018, but I read the advanced reader's copy. Undoubtedly there will be some changes between the version I read and the published version.

Who's up for a ghost story? With a character who happens to have odd parents who write stories about ghosts and history? And whose daughter can see ghosts but they don't know? Wikkity what?

An amazon summary, "Ever since Cass almost drowned (okay, she did drown, but she doesn't like to think about it), she can pull back the Veil that separates the living from the dead . . . and enter the world of spirits. Her best friend is even a ghost.

So things are already pretty strange. But they're about to get much stranger.
When Cass's parents start hosting a TV show about the world's most haunted places, the family heads off to Edinburgh, Scotland. Here, graveyards, castles, and secret passageways teem with restless phantoms. And when Cass meets a girl who shares her "gift," she realizes how much she still has to learn about the Veil -- and herself.
And she'll have to learn fast. The city of ghosts is more dangerous than she ever imagined." AMAZON LINK OF JUSTICE

Cass can see ghosts because she nearly drowned in a river, but when she nearly drowned she got a new best friend. A new ghost best friend, Jacob. Since she nearly drowned, she can feel the pull of the veil; the veil is the division between the living and the dead. When there's a ghost nearby, she feels a tap tap tap from the veil, and it's like an itch she has to scratch. When she crosses the veil, Jacob goes with her, and they witness the how the ghost died.

Cass is all set to go to the beach with her parents, per their tradition... but due to her parent's rather odd career of writing ghost/history novels, they're flying to Scotland to film a new TV show. Cass is going with them, and she's a little nervous about going to one of the most haunted places in the world. However, while she's out and about exploring with her parents, she's sucked into the veil. Jacob manages to pull her out, but there's a lingering haunting song from one of the ghosts that's bothering her. She meets someone else who can also cross into the veil, and the girl teaches her about releasing ghosts from the veil. She refers to herself and Cass as "Inbetweeners". ....which is kind of lame, but whatever, I digress.

That's enough summary.

I liked Cass's personality for the most part, but I was kind of irked about the general mystery surrounding Jacob. For Jacob being Cass's best friend and able to read her mind, he kept a TON of secrets from Cass, and he still continues to keep those secrets. I imagine there will be sequel stories, where we will find out more about Jacob, but I'm just a bit miffed at how little was offered about him.

I also found the parents career to be a little TOO convenient to set up the plot of why Cass would go to Scotland and specifically to all those super haunted places. It was just too easy of a set up and kind of didn't feel natural at all. And, why on earth would you bring your cat to Scotland for a week? Why? Makes zero sense to me. They should have kenneled the cat or asked someone to look after it; I find it kind of perturbing that they're like, NAH, THE CAT GOES WITH. Like....what? It just seems a bit implausible/unreasonable to me.

Overall, I did find the story quite interesting, I think it took a little while to get there though. There was a long lead up to the pitch, and even during the pitch I had a few moments wondering how much longer the high stakes drama would last.

If there's a sequel, I don't think I'm going to read it.

Happy reading!

Witch Born

Witch Born by Nicholas Bowling

Even though this book was published on September 25, 2018, I read the advanced reader's copy. Undoubtedly there will be some changes between the version I read and the published version.

Another gorgeous cover. Yessssssssssss.

An amazon summary, "Alyce's mother has just been burnt at the stake for practicing witchcraft. With only a thin set of instructions and a witch’s mommet for guidance, Alyce must face the world that she’s been sealed off from -- a world of fear and superstition. With a witch hunter fast on her trail, she’ll need the help of an innkeeper and a boy looking to discover the truth behind his own mother's past.

But as her journey continues, another war rages: a hidden war of the supernatural, of the living and the dead. Good and evil are blurred, and nobody’s motives can be trusted. And Alyce finds herself thrown unwillingly into the conflict. Struggling to understand her own powers, she is quickly drawn into a web of secret, lies, and dark magic that could change the fate of the world she is just coming to know.
This dark, twisty, and thrillingly original debut will leave readers entranced in its suspenseful plot and rich prose." AMAZON LINK OF JUSTICE

The opening scene is literally Alyce's mother being accused of witchcraft and burned at the stake. Alyce has hidden in a cellar below the house, and as the accuser opens the door, Alyce stabs him and tries to run. She makes her way to London with a letter from her mother to find a gentleman who will help her. However, she winds up half starved and homeless on the streets. Alyce is muttering to herself in the streets and well, disgusting from living on the streets for a while. People from the insane asylum find her, and pick her up before locking her up.

While Alyce is locked up, a couple strangers try to pick her up from the asylum, Alyce doesn't know who they are, but she makes an escape. She winds up back on the streets, starving, tries to steal but fails miserably, and a young gentleman comes to her rescue. He takes her to an inn where the innkeeper takes care of her and nurses her back to her.

The story really begins is when she starts trying to figure out who is trying to capture her and why. The witch hunters and the two randoms from the insane asylum who tried to pick her up. What are they after and why? The letter? Alyce herself?

TO SPOILER LAND.

The story evolves into a rivalry between Queen Elizabeth of England and Queen Mary of the Scotts. So Queen Elizabeth is secretly a witch and works with the coven. Queen Mary has lost her way from the coven and dabbles in necromancy. Andddd Alyce turns out to be the child of Queen Elizabeth, the "virgin queen". So the world knowing about Alyce being Queen Elizabeth's child would be pretttttty dang bad. But, there's also a mystery of why Queen Mary would want Alyce at all. To prove to the world of Queen Elizabeth's lie? Or, is there some hidden power about Alyce? Dun dun dunnnn

In summary, I didn't find this story to be particularly compelling. There were some interesting points made throughout, but I wish the magic in the world made more sense. There were a lot of kind of mystery moments of magic happening, but it just wasn't well explained. I also found Alyce's strongest personality trait to just be...confusion. She wasn't the greatest at solving the mysteries, she kind of followed her nose directly into danger constantly, and in understanding to how she was brought up, she found the world quite strange... which only made the confusion intensify. I finished reading the book, but I'm not sure I got a whole lot from the story.

Happy reading!

West

West by Edith Pattou

West is the sequel to EAST, which I have previously reviewed. If you don't want East spoiled, then I would recommend not reading this review.

As I mentioned in my East blog post, East was one of my favorite books growing up. Looking back on it, I think East was one of my favorite books because the main character Rose, is an outstanding human being. She's very brave, tough, and musters her way through every situation presented to her. She's really rather remarkable overall. So I was pretty excited to read the sequel and have more adventures with Rose.

An amazon summary, "In the sequel to the beloved high fantasy East, Rose sets off on a perilous journey to find her true love when he goes missing in a thrilling tale of danger, magic, adventure, and revenge.

When Rose first met Charles, he was trapped in the form of a white bear. To rescue him, Rose traveled to the land that lay east of the sun and west of the moon to defeat the evil Troll Queen. Now Rose has found her happily-ever-after with Charles—until a sudden storm destroys his ship and he is presumed dead. But Rose doesn’t believe the shipwreck was an act of nature, nor does she believe Charles is truly dead. Something much more sinister is at work. With mysterious and unstoppable forces threatening the lives of the people she loves, Rose must once again set off on a perilous journey. And this time, the fate of the entire world is at stake." AMAZON LINK OF JUSTICE

After the events of East, Rose and Charles have been happily married, have a bairn (baby) together, and Charles has gone on to become a professional flauto player. Rose and Charles are going to visit her family, but have to arrive separately. Rose travels with their bairn, Winn, and arrives through some kind of tricky situations, but Charles, Charles' ship has been destroyed. Some of the passengers have survived, and some have claimed to see Charles, but Charles is nowhere to be found. Rose leaves her bairn with her family, and sets off with Neddy and Sib to find Charles.

The storm that took Charles' boat isn't the only peculiar disaster; there's also a sweating sickness that's starting to spread across the land and is taking people's lives. Regardless, Rose, Neddy, and Sib set off to find Charles and follow a chain of clues before Rose uncovers that trolls are involved again. Rose goes off on her own to pursue a lead and runs into a troll prince from another troll kingdom who seems to be working with the troll queen from East. The troll prince shape shifts into a snake and bites Rose, leaving her poisoned in a cave where she confronted him. Luckily, she is retrieved by the man she got information from, and he helps nurse her back to health as best as he can.

That's enough summary.

This book took, what felt like, 80 years of reading time for me to finish. I still loved having the story told from different narrators so I could see what was going on with the different family members in different parts of the world, but the book was so long and full of some extra details that really just inhibited the momentum of the plot. Literally, I got to around page 360 before it became tolerable for me to sit and read it for a long period of time again. With all that being said, it's a very enriched story because it includes so many different details. While I appreciate that aspect, it just significantly hampered my attention span. I really liked the last third of the book, but it took so long to get there, that I really can't give this book a recommended books mark.

I need to go into spoiler land. Do not read further if you don't want the book spoiled. Just assume at this point I've signed off with, "Happy reading!"

So. Winn. Winn was dosed with something by the troll queen to start to give him arts so that he would eventually rule the world in her stead. Rose and Charles put a stop to that by killing the troll queen, but Winn will probably still have arts. So will Rose. Because SIB is apparently a human raised by fae in a different part of the world which is how she learned to listen to the wind and started to teach Rose those arts. I find many things upsetting about this, as it's all laying the groundwork for more books in this series. On the one hand, I might find them enjoyable, but on the other hand, if it's going to take another 10 years to get the next book, and it will be just as long to read, I'm out. I'm kind of also annoyed that we got to see MORE supernatural elements dealing with the arts in the world (the three weavers/sisters/fates, whatever you want to call them), but it's still referred to as arts. I just find that incredibly annoying that they're not just referring to it as magic. It didn't bother me in East, but I think with so many more examples presented to us in West, it actually bothers me now. Especially because Sib doesn't refer to what she does with the wind as arts. So what the heck is Sib doing?! MAGIC??? Again, something pretty petty to be annoyed about, but I just am.

I did enjoy the book overall, but I also found some stuff kind of annoying in this book versus the last book. Like, we still see Rose's mother have so many superstitions or charms to deal with the world, but we already saw that very heavily in East so I wish we had seen other aspects of her character in West. I also don't think we had any chapters from Arne in this book, and he was one of my favorite voices to read in East. I don't know, there was SO MUCH BOOK as it is, that I don't really want to encourage more book, but maybe just more editing. Eh?

Happy reading!

Dactyl Hill Squad

Dactyl Hill Squad by Daniel Jose Older

This book was published on September 11, 2018, but I read an advanced reader's copy. Undoubtedly, there will be some differences between the version I read, and the published version.

An amazon summary, "It's 1863 and dinosaurs roam the streets of New York as the Civil War rages between raptor-mounted armies down South. Magdalys Roca and her friends from the Colored Orphan Asylum are on a field trip when the Draft Riots break out, and a number of their fellow orphans are kidnapped by an evil magistrate, Richard Riker. 

Magdalys and her friends flee to Brooklyn and settle in the Dactyl Hill neighborhood, where black and brown New Yorkers have set up an independent community--a safe haven from the threats of Manhattan. Together with the Vigilance Committee, they train to fly on dactylback, discover new friends and amazing dinosaurs, and plot to take down Riker. Can Magdalys and the squad rescue the rest of their friends before it's too late?" AMAZON LINK OF JUSTICE

Magdalys is pretty feisty for someone so young, and she's very adamant that her caretakers call her by her proper name. She loves the theater, and she misses her family. Her siblings were also at the Colored Orphan Asylum at one point, but have left for various reasons over the years. The other orphans all have unique characteristics about themselves, but Magdalys is careful not to get too attached, she knows they'll all leave each other someday sooner than later.

When they go to the theater one night, riots break out. They have to escape the theater that's burning down, and also rescue one of the other orphans inside. The riots are also a guise for Riker to kidnap the other children from the orphanage and turn them over to the South to become slaves.

That's enough summary.

I could not finish reading this book. I really liked all of the characters, I loved the world building, heck, there were even dinosaurs, but... I could not stomach the racial discrimination. It was the characters suffering from racism as children, and due to the political climate in the United States right now, I found it even more difficult to read about one of their caretakers getting lynched.

I understand the book probably strives to be accurate to the 1860s, but with dinosaurs (which were pretty cool, especially how they explained and introduced them), and it's well written and all that jazz, I just don't currently possess the temperament to finish the book.

I'd like to think I'll circle back around to it in the future, but it's just not a book for me for now.

Happy reading!