Book Review: Toward a Secret Sky by Heather Maclean

Toward a Secret Sky by Heather Maclean

**I received an e-ARC of this book from NetGalley for review**

What it's about: 

     Soon after Maren Hamilton is orphaned and sent to live with her maternal grandparents in Scotland, she receives a strange journal that reveals a secret about her parents--they were part of a mysterious international organization that now wants to recruit her.  When strange things begin happening to the animals and then the people in the small Scottish town, she and a strange warrior called Gavin work together to uncover the mystery and fight to find a cure to the strange ailment that is running rampant across the countryside.

What I thought:

     Firstly, I think this story did have a LOT of potential, and toward the end of the book, I was a little more involved in the story and what was happening.  The landscape and the place where Gavin lives is such a neat idea, and the whole connection thing was also really cool. 

     However, one thing that put a wrench in my enjoyment was that it felt like the characters were more concerned with the romance of the story than the actual problem in the story.  Like...creepy zombie demon people are coming after you, and you're worried about whether or not you're falling in love with this dude who clearly knows more about this situation than he is letting on!?! GET AHOLD OF YOURSELF, WOMAN!  It felt rushed and kind of fake, and a little Edward Cullen-esque with the whole "Let me watch over you while you sleep, girl. But I have to be on your roof, because we can't fall in love and CLEARLY if I'm in the room while you sleep, that means we're gonna fall in love?"

     Don't get me wrong. Once the actual action started and more of the mystery unraveled, I got more invested and involved with the story.  The ending was probably my favorite part, because it set up some really interesting events to come in the next book.

Overall, I didn't love this book, but I thought there were some decent parts and I will probably read the next one to see what happens next!

Rating: 3.5 stars.

Book Review: A Million Junes by Emily Henry

A Million Junes by Emily Henry

What it's about:

     Ever since Jack O'Donnell IV can remember, her parents have warned her to stay away from the Angerts.  Their families are linked from way back, and when members of each clan cross paths, bad things happen.  Like her father's mysterious and sudden death.

     When Jack (known also as June, Junior, JuneBug, etc) runs into Saul, the youngest member of the Angert family (who has been gone from town for years), she expects the worst--but nothing bad seems to happen.

     As the two grow closer, the magic of the O'Donnell's family farm and the mystery surrounding the curse shared by their families is slowly revealed--changing what they thought they knew about their entire lives.

What I thought:

     I ADORED this book.  The first thing I thought when I started reading about June's dad and his stories was the movie Big Fish--a dad who tells these really crazy magical stories like they actually happened--and maybe they did, maybe they didn't happen the way he says.  This book is what you would get if you took Big Fish, Romeo and Juliet, and the Hatfields and McCoys, stuck them in a blender, poured them into a glass, and sprinkled them with a bit more magic. And I couldn't be more pleased with this strange combination.

     The writing in this book is poetic and beautiful and very dreamlike--while also staying true to the story of June in the present. It kept me completely riveted and wanting to know more. I read Emily Henry's previous book, "The Love That Split The World", which I liked, but I really loved this one so much more.

     The entire first half of the book--as I fell in love with the characters and the strange circumstances surrounding this big DO NOT GO NEAR THE ANGERTS mystery--I kept waiting for something truly awful to happen.  That feeling of dread *almost* hindered my capacity to become entirely smitten with Saul (kudos to the author, by the way, for making the name Saul seem super attractive in this day and age), but I was able to overcome and totally got into the romance that blooms between the children of the warring families.

     Once the mystery begins to be solved, the story takes a real turn emotionally.  From a sweet forbidden romance, it becomes something much deeper in both depth and meaning, leading the characters through the grief they've felt for a decade, and that which has followed both of their families for generations. The writing is *so* poignant and touching, I found myself not sobbing with sadness, but consistently finding tears leaking from my eyes.  My heart ached along with June and Saul as they uncovered more about their family histories in both the present and in the past.

     I don't want to give too much away, because I really think this is one that's better when you go into it not knowing a whole lot of details. I loved trying to guess what was going on and found that a lot of my hunches were correct, which sort of added to the entertainment of reading it!  I will say that this is definitely a book I'm going to be grabbing a hard copy of to take its rightful place on my bookshelf!

Rating: 5 stars.

Book Review: Four Kings by M.D. Elster

Four Kings by M.D. Elster
**This book was provided to me for review through NetGalley**

What it's about:

     Anaïs Reynard wakes up in a 1940's New Orleans sanitorium with no recollection of how she arrived there.  Her doctors tell her she was a witness to the shooting of her stepfather, but she doesn't remember anything from that night.  A young black man has been arrested for the crime and Anaïs is the star witness for the trial, though through the fog of her mind, something tells her he is *not* the shooter.

     One night, a strange encounter with a bizarre fox-like man leads Anaïs to an adventure in another world--one that seems similar to the events occurring in her own.  

What I thought:

     So....it took me a while to start reading this book.  It took me a little bit less time to get into the story, but oh man, once I did: 

This story is just so....magical. Magical in a very serious and intense way, a la Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children.  The different stories (The Land of the Four Kings, Anaïs' past leading up to now, and Anaïs' current amnesia-riddled story) blend together surprisingly well, and I found myself unable to decide which part I was looking most forward to.

The mystery surrounding the stepfather's shooting was fun to try to work out based on the clues Anaïs remembered.  Getting to understand the dynamic between Anaïs and the people in her life based on the memories of her past was really interesting and showed the reader more connections than originally let on.  I enjoy reading about the WWII era so the fact that her early life took place in Europe during this time period was of bonus interest to me.

I think my favorite parts of the story were the scenes that took place in the Land of the Four Kings.  While this story does seem to be akin to stories like Alice in Wonderland or the Wizard of Oz, it definitely has its own flavor, characters, and world.  All of these seem to correspond to the events in Anaïs' own world, but I do think that the Land of the Four Kings could be a place that could stand on its own, and I would love the possibly seeing more of the stories that are still laying in wait in that setting.  

Overall, I would definitely recommend giving this book a read if you enjoy any of the aforementioned stories. It's got a Alice/Dorothy feel set in a strange and sometimes creepy world, but it's definitely worth the reading time!

Rating:   4 stars.

Book Review: Letters to the Lost by Brigid Kemmerer

Letters to the Lost by Brigid Kemmerer

What it's about:

     To cope with the death of her mother, Juliet writes letters and leaves them at the cemetery.  When someone (spoiler: it's Declan) finds one of them and writes BACK, she's at first angry, then intrigued.  Thus begins an anonymous correspondence in which the person writing to her may have more in common with Juliet than she thought. Being able to bare all in such a personal yet impersonal way seems to have a strong impact on both parties, but reality has a way of impeding even the most private of exchanges, and secrets start to seep through the cracks and into their real lives.

What I thought:

     I picked this book up at a publisher's booth during BookCon on a whim.  I was with a friend, and when we read the inside cover, it seemed like something we'd like. It also came *highly* praised by the girl who rang us each out a copy.  The plan was to read it together (we do buddy reads all the time).  It had been sitting on my TBR shelf for almost 2 months when the other day my friend texted me, asking if I wanted to start the read. I wasn't super into any of the other books I was reading at the time, and said "Yeah, sure!" 

That was yesterday.  My friend hasn't even started it yet (Sorry, Court. Please forgive me.)

I've been going through a bit of a YA Contemporary Romance phase (yes, it's waaay out of my comfort zone--the proof is in my "Read" list).  So when I grabbed this one off my shelf last night and reread the jacket info, it was like...fate.  I had just run out of the few YACR books that were in my radar, and suddenly, without even knowing it, my past self went and bought my present self a...present.

That's exactly what this book was for me.  Don't get me wrong--this book is pretty emotionally rough to get through most of the time--the main characters are heartbroken and hurt and hiding that fact from most of the people in their lives.  When they get a chance to anonymously open up and spill each of their secrets, it feels a little like a hand reaching into your chest and squeezing really hard.  The emotions come through vividly and feel very very real.  

I'm not going to lie--this book overall probably won't make you feel very good.  Parts of it are cute, and feel pretty good, but it's decidedly *not* your typical cutesy YACR.  But the growth that Juliet and Declan go through to get to the ending is raw and authentic and gripping.  If I hadn't had to do life things like...sleep and work, I would have downed this thing in one sitting.

I'm not saying it didn't have a few downfalls. The characters themselves can get a bit cliched and some of the scenarios were a tad dramatic, but when they're stuck into the story and given these huge impactful backstories and really great secondary characters (my complete and utter favorite being Rev, Declan's best friend), all that cliche and drama seems a bit *less* cliche and more on the "Oh ow, that hurts. This isn't even happening to ME, why do I feel this pain?" side of things.  

Honestly, my biggest problem with this book will be deciding how to reorganize my "favorites" shelf to fit this one in.  

AND OMG, WE'RE GETTING MORE. REV IS GETTING HIS OWN BOOK, COMING OUT SPRING OF 2018. I CANNOT WAIT.

Rating:  5 stars.

Book Review: Etched in Bone by Anne Bishop

Etched in Bone by Anne Bishop

What it's about:

     The fifth and final book in the Others series, this book follows the paring down of human civilization and the small factors that help the Elders decide how much human they really want to keep in Thaisia.  Meg, Simon, and the beloved cast of terra indigene and human packs in and around the Lakeside Courtyard must deal with a threat much closer to hearth and home than they ever have before--and how they react will impact the entire world.

What I thought:

     I completely and utterly adore this series, and this last book was no exception.  The Others of the Lakeside Courtyard have become some of my favorite characters of all time, and the way they learn to deal with and adapt for the "good" humans just makes me so happy.  The characters have evolved in more ways than one and they and the story are just written *so well* that it feels like this could be a real world with real consequences.

I don't want to go too far without a spoiler warning, but if you are at all interested in reading a fantastic urban fantasy of the shifter vein, give this series a try. It has become one of my favorites and now holds a prized spot on my bookshelves!

Spoilers follow, because I can't help but mention some of my favorite parts.

• Meg yells at the Elders in the Courtyard for being rude puppies and demanding wolf cookies.
• The Wolves catching a giant turkey for the human pack, and delivering it still warm, resulting in:
• The Human/Wolf potluck dinner and:
• SKIPPY CHANGING TO PARTIAL HUMAN FORM SO HE CAN GO AND MISS TWYLA ACTING LIKE IT'S PERFECTLY NORMAL SO HE CAN BE INCLUDED AND HAVE DINNER AT THE TABLE LIKE EVERYONE ELSE.

I have to stop reading on the train.

Rating: 5 stars.

Book Review: Geekerella by Ashley Posten

Geekerella by Ashley Posten

**This ARC was provided through NetGalley for an honest review--Thanks NetGalley!**

What it's about:

     Geekerella is a modern-day retelling of the classic Cinderella fairytale, but with a massively geeky twist.  Elle Wittimer is a super fan of  Starfield, the show her dad introduced her to as a kid. Her fandom is thrown into chaos when teen heartthrob Darien Freeman is cast in the lead male role in the film reboot of the beloved show.  When a cosplay contest is announced at the Starfield convention, Elle sees it as her chance to get away from the horrible stepmother and bratty stepsisters who have ruined her life.

What I thought:

     This book made my geek heart happy.  If at least part of it takes place at a convention, I'm sold.  Even better, when the show is made up but sounds like something I'd DEFINITELY be into (think Star Wars/Star Trek/Battlestar Galactica vein), and the fandom sounds like the fandoms I'm in? Done and done!

One of my favorite parts of this book was that even though it's clearly a retelling when you stop to think about it, the story was so engaging and really delved so deep into the lore and obsessions of the Starfield fandom that I often found myself forgetting that it was also Cinderella.  

Don't get me wrong--if retellings are your thing, this doesn't disappoint.  Downtrodden but still hopeful main character, dreamy prince, a few different characters that could be considered "fairy godmothers", and an evil, awful stepmother who, to be honest, rivals the OG stepmother, Lady Tremaine.  

Throw in a few mysterious text conversations, some of the prince's POV, and a cosplay ball to end all cosplay balls, this book was an imaginative and unique retelling that is sure to grab readers of retellings, convention-goers, and good old fashioned fairy tale lovers.

Rating: 4.5 stars (Reach for the stars...aim...IGNITE!)

Book Review: The Bone Witch by Rin Chupeco

The Bone Witch by Rin Chupeco 

**I received an E-ARC of this book via NetGalley for an honest review**

What it's about:

          Tea is a member of a magical order of geisha-like women who both entertain and use their magical powers to aid the kingdoms in which they work and reside.  Tea is different, however.  She is a Dark asha, able to bring creatures--and people--back to life, and to end the half-lives of creatures called daeva who are rampaging through the kingdoms, often at the hands of the sinister Faceless magic users.  Tea must learn how to become a full-fledged asha while learning how to handle her rare and dangerous gift--avoiding enemies and making allies along the way!

What I thought:

          This was a pretty cool story.  It was like a magic-infused Memoirs of a Geisha, with really wonderful writing that made it so easy to visualize the world and characters. The richness of the scenery and details of everything, including the clothing and accessories, asha customs, and landscapes really made the story immersive and full.

I liked the juxtaposition of past & present a lot. Half of the story is told from Tea's point of view, sharing her history and how she became an asha.  The other half is "present day" told from the point of view of a character known as the Bard, viewing Tea as an older asha who has changed her life's path drastically.  We slowly follow Tea as she begins her journey as a fledgling asha, learning what she learns and following her friendships and oppositions, as well as uncovering secrets about the world that are truly unique and really enchanting.

The worldbuilding in this book was very interesting. Each kingdom had its own traits and characteristics and they were portrayed well throughout the plot in subtle ways. I would have liked to be able to look back at a paper map, but as I had an e-ARC, it was a little hard to switch back and forth/look at the map closely.  The story stayed in the same location for most of the time, but I really think that further along in the series, we will be brought to new lands and end up seeing more places.

The plot was definitely unique. Though overall, it seemed slightly slow-moving to me, I think it was because this is the first book in a series, so I think this book acted as a more introductory piece, which set things up nicely for the next book, as this one ends on a rather exciting note.  I loved being able to see how Tea became an asha and how she interacted with the other asha and the community of Ankyo.  I thought that her sistership and relationships with the women of the Valerian ashaka were a strong point, and I can't wait to see those relationships develop more! Fox and Tea's asha sisters were great additions to the story, and I am interested to learn more about Kance and Kalen (ahem. Especially Kalen. I smell a slow-burning romance!).  

I really enjoyed learning about the magic system and the different characters. (Also, I seriously want a heartsglass). The lore that was created to explain heartsglass and the daeva was so authentic and really felt like an actual folk tale--I loved that it was referred to later in the story, which both intrigued  me and made me worry for the events between the past and present storylines.  

Overall, I think this book would be a great selection if you enjoy Asian culture-inspired reads with a spellbinding twist and super interesting magical systems! I got MAJOR Memoirs of a Geisha vibes throughout the whole story, and I definitely think that the series will go great places in the next book!

Rating:  4 stars