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!